Directed Reading Program

The Directed Reading Program (DRP) gives undergraduates the opportunity to:

• work one-on-one with a graduate mentor for the semester,
• learn an area of mathematics not covered in any course, and
• gain valuable presentation skills.

Undergraduates also register for the 1-credit-hour Math 285.

Requirements

The DRP pairs undergraduate students with graduate-student mentors for an independent reading course. Undergraduate participants are expected to:

• meet once per week with the graduate-student mentor,
• work independently for approximately three hours between meetings, and
• give a 10- to 15-minute talk on their project at the end of the semester.

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DRP Activities - Spring 2021

• Kick-off event (Jan. 21 at 5:00 pm [mentors] and 5:15 pm [mentees] - * online via Zoom *)
• A presentation on "How (not) to give a talk", plus a tutorial on Overleaf and Beamer (Thurs. Mar. 25 [5:00 pm] - * online via Zoom *)
• Final presentations by undergraduate participants (Tues. Apr. 20 [5:00 pm] and Thurs. Apr. 22 [5:00 pm] - * online via Zoom *)

The Spring 2021 participants and their mentors:

• Tessora Stefan (mentor: Jordy Cheyem Lopez Garcia ) - Topological Proof of the Infinitude of Primes
• Christian De Los Santos (mentor: Alexander Ruys de Perez ) - Neural Codes and Max Intersection-Completeness
• Austin Pritchett (mentor: James O’Quinn ) - Becoming the King of Games with Mathematics
• Fang Shu (mentor: Tushar Pandey ) - Linear Algebra in Finance and Risk Management
• David Cruz (mentor: Erik Davis ) - Casinos and Games of Chance: Applications of Probability and Expected Value
• Wells Hero (mentor: Tanuj Gupta ) - Whitney Embedding Theorem
• Jackson West (mentor: Zhaobidan Feng ) - An Introduction to Combinatorial Reasoning

To participate in Fall 2021, see below.

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How to participate (undergraduates) - Fall 2021

We encourage applications from any undergraduate who:

• will be a sophomore, junior, or senior during the semester of the program,
• has completed a year-long calculus sequence, and
• is interested in learning interesting mathematics outside of the classroom.

We warmly welcome applications from first-generation college students, women, and members of underrepresented groups in STEM.

To apply to participate in Fall 2021:

• complete the application for undergraduate students (Deadline: March 26, 2021 April 28, 2021 [EXTENDED]), and
• register for Math 285 (Directed Studies), section 504, for 1 credit-hour.

Applicants will be notified by March 31, 2021 May 1, 2021 [UPDATED]. (Feel free to contact the organizers at any time!)

How to participate (graduate students) - Fall 2021

To be announced (by email)!

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DRP Activities - Prior Semesters

• See here

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Organizers

The DRP is organized by Kari Eifler, Angelique Morvant, and Pablo Sanchez Ocal, with faculty mentor Anne Shiu.

Please reach out to any of us with questions!

Resources

Project ideas from other DRPs can be found at the websites of the DRP Network, the Maryland DRP, and the University of Texas DRP.

Acknowledgment

The DRP is supported by the National Science Foundation (CAREER grant DMS-1752672), a Montague-CTE (Center for Teaching Excellence) Scholar grant, and a DRP Network mini-grant supported by the National Science Foundation (grant IUSE-1740143).