EMSW21-MCTP: eCIR: The expanded Center for Interdisciplinary Research

扩大后的跨学科研究中心(ECIR)将使统计学、应用数学和计算数学专业的本科生--与各学科的教职员工研究人员合作--体验跨学科研究的兴奋。这项工作扩展了圣奥拉夫学院跨学科研究中心(CIR)，该中心由之前的NSF拨款支持。学生们从该中心学习统计学如何作为与其他学科的研究人员的接口，特别是生物学、心理学和社会科学。应用数学和计算数学也为自然科学和社会科学中的其他学科提供了一个自然的接口。应用数学或计算数学的两名博士后助理将在eCIR的支持下接受指导。这个项目的目标是三个转折点：从早期本科生到本科生研究人员；从本科生研究人员到研究生；从研究生院到教学。eCIR项目的一个明确目标是大幅增加来自传统上代表性不足的群体的学生数量，这些学生参与跨学科的本科生研究，然后进入数学科学研究生院。在自然科学领域，本科生的研究是根深蒂固的；在数学科学领域，它正在增长，但仍然受到各种因素的限制，例如教师的专业知识和本科生可以解决的研究问题的识别。该项目的主要组成部分可转让给其他机构，该项目的计划包括有意传播。我们期待我们从认真的评估和评估中学到的东西，能够为全国关于本科生研究成效的对话做出重要贡献。

The expanded Center for Interdisciplinary Research (eCIR) will enable undergraduate students in statistics, applied mathematics, and computational mathematics - working in teams with faculty researchers across the disciplines - to experience the excitement of interdisciplinary research. This work extends the St. Olaf College Center for Interdisciplinary Research (CIR) supported under previous NSF grant. Students learn from the center how statistics serves as an interface with researchers in other disciplines, especially biology, psychology, and the social sciences. Applied and computational mathematics also provide a natural interface with other disciplines in the natural and social sciences. Two post-doctoral associates in applied or computational mathematics will be mentored under the auspices of eCIR. This project targets three transitions points: From early undergraduate student to undergraduate researcher; From undergraduate researcher to graduate student; From graduate school to teaching.An explicit goal of the eCIR project is to substantially increase the number of students from traditionally underrepresented groups who participate in interdisciplinary undergraduate research and who then go on to graduate school in the mathematical sciences. In the natural sciences, undergraduate research is well-established; in the mathematical sciences, it is growing but still limited by a variety of factors such as faculty expertise and the identification of research problems accessible to undergraduates. The key components of this project are transferable to other institutions and plans for the project include intentional dissemination. We expect that what we learn from careful assessment and evaluation can make important contributions to the national conversation on the efficacy of undergraduate research.