Grant to help build community of mathematicians in Southwest
The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of New Mexico Department of Mathematics and Statistics a three-year, $750,000 grant titled, "Attracting, Motivating and Preparing Mathematics Students in the Southwest by Building an Energetic Community."
Photo: Professor Cristina Pereyra
The grant will enable undergraduate and graduate students at UNM and in the Southwest, an opportunity to jointly immerse themselves in mathematics and learn about a range of topics in pure and applied mathematics. The grant will also help students to get involved in mentored research projects.
The immediate goal of the program is to build a healthy, cooperative and productive community of mathematics students in the southwest. The long-range goal is to produce a thriving, self-sustaining, supportive atmosphere of creative enquiry in the southwest.
"We really hope this program will reach students across New Mexico and the southwest, not only UNM students but also students who come from smaller colleges in the Southwest,” said Professor Cristina Pereyra. “We believe this type of experience can be a turning point in the life of young and inquisitive minds, and we hope the summer and research experience will offer the students the opportunity to learn hands-on about the beauty of mathematics and its applications.”
Summer classes will provide undergraduate students the opportunity to learn important ideas from pure, applied, and computational mathematics, while research projects throughout the following academic year (for UNM students) will give a sense of the challenges and rewards inherent in all mathematical research.
All students are invited to participate in a summer workshop, and in building an energetic, productive, cooperative mathematics community in the Southwest.
There are three main components of the program, the first of which begins with a summer workshop set for Monday, July 7 through Aug. 8, 2008. The other components include Undergraduate Research Projects and Graduate Student Mentoring.
The summer workshop is designed to introduce undergraduate students to important ideas in both pure and applied mathematics. Areas of focus will include Fourier analysis, symmetry, mathematical modeling, and fluid dynamics.
For more information contact Professor Cristina Pereyra Department of Mathematics and Statistics or e-mail: mctp@math.unm.edu.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu