| RESEARCH EXPERIENCE FOR UNDERGRADUATES The Department of Mathematics and Statistics has a long history of supporting Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs). Undergraduates work with a faculty mentor on a project during one academic year. Typically, the students concurrently enroll in the Honors Program. They write an undergraduate thesis at the end of the year, present it to the undergraduate committee. Succesful completion leads to graduating with Honors. Student Funding. This undergraduate research work has sometimes been funded, either through a faculty's grant that includes REU support, or through our previous NSF-funded MCTP Program, see MCTP 2008-2011 A list of previous and current undergraduate research projects is given in the link at left. During the next four years, the current MCTP Program supports 5 REUs per year with a stipend during the fall and spring semesters. To qualify for the MCTP stipend the students are asked to also participate in the MCTP Outreach program, described in the link to the Outreach Program.
What is a typical Math/Stats REU at UNM?
The students sign up for an Independent Study, Math 499, with their faculty mentor,
in both the fall and the spring semester of the academic year in which they will work
on their research project.
They meet weekly with their mentor who guides them in their project.
They typically spend part of the fall semester learning the necessary project-specific background,
and spend the rest of fall and much of spring working on their project.
They give a presentation on their current status of their work in the spring,
at the Southwestern Undergraduate Mathematics Research Conference (SUnMaRC).
They complete their research by writing their results up in a thesis.
To graduate with Honors they present their thesis to
the Undergraduate Committee.
In the following summer, the students can
possibly prepare a corresponding paper for publication.
How do you get started? Students interested in pursuing a year doing funded undergraduate mathematics research first contact a faculty member that they would like to work with. You may choose this faculty mentor for example based on a research area you find interesting, or on classes you have had with the facutly, or on the faculty's work described on their website. You can explore a potential research project together with the faculty member, or make your own suggestions. A list of possible projects some faculty have proposed is given in the link Proposed REU Projects. A list of previous and current REU projects is given in the link Current and Previous REU Projects. After you have found a project you write a project proposal, and submit it to the Undergraduate Committee for consideration of the Honors Program. To be considered for MCTP funding, you also need to contact Professors Michael Nakamaye (nakamaye@math.unm.edu) or Monika Nitsche (nitsche@math.unm.edu) about the MCTP Outreach program.
Why do an REU?
Working on an undergraduate research project
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