NSF VIGRE Grant
Submitted 4/1/03 by University of Colorado Chapter of SIAM, Anne Dougherty, Faculty Advisor
Our department has an NSF VIGRE grant. One of the (many) great things that have come from this grant is that we have a large number of undergraduates who are participating in research projects with faculty and postdocs. One goal of the research is to give them a taste of what working independently is like. Many students continue on to grad school after they have seen how much fun a research project can be. Another goal is to improve their mathematical, computational and communication skills.
Towards this last goal...
Every spring, all of the undergraduates doing research projects are asked to make a presentation to the department. We currently have two such seminars scheduled: one on April 17 and the other on April 24. At each seminar, 3 projects will be presented. Each student (or group of students if they are working together on a project) speaks for about 15 minutes. The undergraduate SIAM officers bring in some dinner---eating, plus the talks and Q&A will last about 1.5 hours. It is rather informal but it is great experience for the undergrads.
Then, towards the end of July, all of the VIGRE-supported postdocs, grads and undergrads will get together for a day-long, in-house mini-conference. Each person will give a talk about their research.
For more information about chapters, contact Membership Manager Susan Whitehouse or Membership Coordinator Nancy Snell.
