$3.5 Million Can Really Add Up

The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Arizona in Tucson a $3.5 million grant over the next five years to improve advanced mathematics education. Certainly a fraction of that would improve my education, but then I have a hard time balancing my checkbook.

The grant, shared by the Department of Mathematics and the Program in Applied Mathematics, is to support a project called VIGRE, short for "Vertically InteGrated Research and Education." This project will institute changes that affect students at all levels by "vertically integrating" the way mathematics is taught. Students at various levels of training will be encouraged to interact and cooperate with other colleagues in the math and science community to broaden the students' expertise and ability to work cooperatively on problems.

"The NSF feels like there is a crisis, a looming shortage of people with advanced mathematical training," said principal investigator Douglas Ulmer, a UA professor of mathematics and associate head for the graduate program in the UA's department of mathematics. "For example, biology is becoming much more mathematically sophisticated. Biologists are using more mathematical techniques than they did even 10 years ago."

Each year, the project will support 12 graduate students, two postdoctoral fellows, and 20 undergraduates. Undergraduates will have opportunities to pursue research on topics like cryptography, mathematical modeling, the mathematics of fluids, and number theory. For graduate students, the grant provides funding so they can focus more on doing high-level research in current mathematical fields and improve their professional and communication skills.

In addition to increasing vertical integration of mathematics training, the project will also increase horizontal integration. Horizontal integration means going beyond geographical and institutional boundaries to provide support to other organizations involved in mathematics education.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 09:48 AM  Permalink