SUnMaRC 2015

Southwest Undergraduate Mathematics Research Conference

The 12th Southwest Undergraduate Mathematics Research Conference, SUnMaRC 2015, was held on February 27-March 1, 2015, in El Paso, TX, hosted by University of Texas, El Paso. This conference series provides students an opportunity to see what math research can be about, to meet other students throughout the Southwest with similar interests, to explore possibilities for graduate studies, and, for those that have already been working on a research project, to present their work. See the full conference program.

UNM Sunmarc 2015 Attendees

The UNM contingent, shown above (from right to left): Michael Sanchez, Melody Walker, Sam Mundy, Mathias Sagartz, Juan Pablo Madrigal Cianci, Raphael Garcia, Lionel David Fiske, and Nikhil Addleman, accompanied by UNM faculty member Monika Nitsche (not in picture).

This year again, UNM had a good contingent of undergraduate students attending the conference. Our 8 students and 1 faculty members drove down to El Paso friday-sunday (and avoided all the so-called snow that Abq got!), to join 80+ students from Arizona (ASU, MCC, NAU, UA), New Mexico (NMSU, UNM), and Texas (UTEP). Four of our students gave wonderful talks on their research program (see pics below). We saw many other interesting talks both by students and invited speakers, heard about inverse problems, large data sets, number theory, and one of the large employers of mathematicians, the National Security Agency. The UNM group won first institutional prize for the Math Contest, in which 8 institutions from throughout the SW competed, and we got to be the trophy holder for the year! Juan Pablo won second place for the individual with most correct answers. Congratulations to them all!! Overall, a lot of fun, great group.

Sam Mundy from UNM, presenting his talk on " On The Existence of Perfect Morse-Bott Functions " Melody Walker from UNM, presenting her talk on " With-in Host Models of Dengue " Juan Pablo Madrigal Cianci from UNM, presenting his talk on " Study Modifications of the Black Scholes Equation " Nikhil Addleman from UNM, presenting his talk on " A Stochastic Model of Childhood Disease on Metapopulations "

Here are some of our students comments:

"I really liked it! It was a great an opportunity to learn more about math,  as well as getting to know what other students are doing." "I really enjoyed attending Sunmarc this year because it demonstrated the true value mathematics has in our world today. I was able to hear talks from a variety of topics like how mathematics has been used in the past and what the future holds for mathematicians, especially in fields related to it like computer science. Being at Sunmarc enabled me to see the importance of original thinking and how important it is to ask your own questions and explore them without being afraid of the answer. It was a great experience to see how others are using mathematics to explore the mysteries that are in fields such as medicine and security." "This was a venue where students can see what it's like to go to talks, build connections, practice asking questions as part of an audience, and practice presenting their research to that audience." "The conference really allowed me to see exactly what sort of research is ongoing in mathematics. I was able to meet, network and discuss problems with a lot of interesting student researchers--it helped me see how apply math to the real world" "It was an excellent opportunity to gain perspective about undergraduate research and meet people working in the field of mathematics. It is worth going to for anyone who desires experience in research." "It opened my eyes to a world of mathematics and it's applications I hadn't yet abstracted on my own." Many thanks to Behazad and the UTEP support group for organizing this nice event! And thanks to all who participated, you make all the difference :) Also, many thanks to the National Science Foundation for supporting this endeavour through an MCTP (Mentoring through Critical Transition Points) grant. Get ready : Sunmarc 2016 at ASU, in Phoenix!