REU Site: Research Experience for Undergraduates in Industrial Mathematics and Statistics

工业数学和统计的WPI REU计划通过介绍他们在工业环境中进行研究，为数学科学的学生提供了独特的教育体验。它为具有强大数学背景的学生提供了许多职业可能性的一瞥。学生们组成团队，解决直接来自当地商业和工业的问题。学生与公司代表密切合作，确定问题并制定对公司有直接价值的解决方案。他们与一位指导老师密切合作，以数学方式制定问题，并保持对项目核心数学的明确关注。工业问题很少适合一个数学领域，这一事实是研究经验的重要组成部分。许多项目需要结合经典分析、建模、统计、优化和计算机编程。REU项目中完成的项目结果对工业合作伙伴和这些公司的研究和开发具有直接的重要性。此外，为REU计划开发的项目被修改用于K-12数学课程，以提高学生的动机，并产生对数学科学职业的兴趣。许多数学专业的毕业生现在走上了非学术的职业道路。在2010年至2011年在美国就业的大约1200名数学科学博士获得者中，31.5%的人在商业、政府、工业、研究机构和其他非营利组织工作。如果除去那些写统计学或生物统计学论文的人，你会发现22%的新数学家在学术界之外工作。WPI REU工业数学和统计项目旨在让学生接触到大学环境之外的数学研究。它旨在为学生提供在标准本科课程中没有遇到的挑战，并培养传统教育课程中并不总是发展的技能，例如(a)几个层次的沟通，包括阅读，写作，口语和听力；(b)提出问题是一个相互作用的渐进过程；(c)与多元化团队合作的能力。WPI REU工业数学和统计项目自1998年以来一直存在，从那时起，我们已经与来自37个州和波多黎各的119所不同的美国大学的167名学生合作；45%的学生是女性。这167名学生中只有7名是WPI学生。在过去15年里，有119所大学参加了REU项目，其中50%的大学不提供数学研究生学位。我们参与了由23家不同公司赞助的47个不同的工业项目。REU项目的学生通常会继续攻读数学和其他领域的研究生学位，他们也会从事金融和工业方面的职业。

The WPI REU program in Industrial Mathematics and Statistics provides a unique educational experience for students of the mathematical sciences by introducing them to research in an industrial environment. It provides a glimpse of the many career possibilities which are open to students with a strong mathematical background. The students work in teams on problems that come directly from local business and industry. Students work closely with a company representative to define the problem and develop solutions of immediate value to the company. They work closely with a faculty advisor to formulate the problem mathematically and maintain a clear focus on the mathematics at the core of the project. Industrial problems rarely fit into one area of mathematics and this fact is an important part of the research experience. Many projects require some combination of classical analysis, modelling, statistics, optimization, and computer programming. The results from the projects completed in the REU program are of direct importance to the industrial partners and impact research and development at these companies. Further, projects developed for the REU program are modified for use in K-12 mathematics curricula in order to improve student motivation and generate interest in careers in the mathematical sciences.Many mathematics graduates now follow nonacademic career paths. Of the roughly 1200 2010-2011 doctoral recipients in the Mathematical Sciences who have known employment in the U.S., 31.5% of them have taken up employment in business, government, industry, research institutes and other not-for-profits. When one takes out those writing statistics or biostatistics dissertations, one finds that 22% of the new mathematicians are working outside academia. The WPI REU Program in Industrial Mathematics and Statistics aims to expose students to mathematics research that occurs outside of the university setting. It aims to provide challenges to students not faced in standard undergraduate programs and to develop skills not always developed in traditional educational programs, such as (a) communication at several levels, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening; (b) problem formulation as an interactive, evolutionary process; and (c) the ability to work with a diverse team. The WPI REU Program in Industrial Mathematics and Statistics has existed since 1998 and, since that time, we have worked with 167 students who have come from 119 different U.S. colleges in 37 states and Puerto Rico; 45% of the students were female. Only 7 of these 167 students were WPI students. Of the 119 universities that have been represented at the REU program over the last 15 years, 50% of them do not offer graduate degrees in mathematics. We have worked on 47 different industrial projects sponsored by 23 different companies. Students from the REU program often go on to pursue graduate degrees in mathematics and in other fields, and they also pursue careers in finance and industry.