UW Madison VIGRE Project Description
There is a critical shortage of US students and faculty in the mathematical sciences. This has been identified as a major source of concern by both academia and industry. In our proposal we seek to address a number of critical pipeline issues which NSF has urged us to consider. They fall into the following categories:
- Helping us to attract talented high school students to careers in math and science,
- Developing the mathematical education of undergraduate students, providing them with a solid math background as well as valuable research experiences,
- Educating the best US graduate students in mathematics in preparation for competitive research careers, while also training future teaching professionals and industrial scientists,
- Providing opportunities for professional development via internships and other contacts with industry and research centers,
- Fostering interdisciplinary activities at all levels,
- Mentoring postdocs so that they can go on to become successful mathematicians.
We propose to make progress towards achieving these goals via integrated activities centered in the Mathematics Department. The following is a brief list of our proposed VIGRE-funded activities:
- Academic year collaborative undergraduate research labs (CURLs),
- Summer REU programs for the next 5 years,
- Fellowships for promising graduate students,
- Summer enhancement programs for training beginning US graduate students,
- VIGRE Van Vleck Assistant Professorships, combining our regular postdoc positions with VIGRE support, with substantial mentoring,
- Internships at Motorola, Microsoft, Epic Systems, NCAR and Woods Hole,
- An expanded Wisconsin Talent Search, building on past success, to attract talented high school students into mathematics and sciences,
- Development of interdisciplinary courses involving mathematics and disciplines such as biology, physics, engineering and earth sciences,
- A variety of integrated activities, including an expanded Brown Bag Seminar, Math Club, Graduate Participation Seminars, Major Trends in Mathematics lecture series, etc.
