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.

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 - Fall 2020

• Kick-off event (Aug. 25 at 4:45pm [mentors] and 5:00 [mentees] - * online via Zoom *)
• A presentation on "How (not) to give a talk" (Mon. Oct. 26 [5:00] - * online via Zoom *)
• Final presentations by undergraduate participants (Mon. Nov. 16 [5:00pm], Tues. Nov. 17 [5:45 pm], and Mon. Nov. 23 [6:15 pm] - * online via Zoom *)

The Fall 2020 participants and their mentors:

• Alex Behne (mentor: Tolulope Oke)
• Alexis Foster (mentor: Jennifer Zhu) - Applications of Linear Algebra in Biomathematics
• Michael Grantham (mentor: James O’Quinn) - Chaotic Dynamical Systems
• Callie Lansing (mentor: Alexander Ruys de Perez) - Local Obstructions and Nonconvexity in Neural Codes
• Yeojoon Moon (mentor: Priyanga Ganesan) - Stability Analysis of Linear Systems
• Mark Olvera (mentor: John Weeks) - A brief overview of how graphs and groups can interact
• Nicole Peltier (mentor: Zhengye Zhou) - Fourier Analysis on Finite Groups
• Robert Todora (mentor: Mansi Bezbaruah) - Cryptography with Elliptic Curves
• Tanvi Vishwanath (mentor: Lauren Snider) - An Epidemiological Application of Percolation Theory
• Jackson West (mentor: Konrad Wrobel) - ZFC and the Continuum Hypothesis

To participate in Spring 2021, see below.

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How to participate (undergraduates) - Spring 2021

We encourage applications from any undergraduate who:

• has completed a year-long calculus sequence, and
• is interested in learning interesting mathematics outside of the classroom.

To apply to participate in Spring 2021:

• complete the application for undergraduate students (Deadline: October 30, 2020), and
• register for Math 285 (Directed Studies), section 501, for 1 credit-hour.

Applicants will be notified by November 4, 2020.

How to participate (graduate students) - Spring 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.

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).