Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences

William Marsh Rice University, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

Rice University VIGRE Abstract: The world is becoming more mathematical. For example, in recent decades we have seen the diffusion of sophisticated tools of mathematics into the subjects of finance and biology, to say nothing of the relatively new subject of computer science, with its own distinctive mathematical issues. These subjects, and others of an interdisciplinary nature, are best studied by a combination of analytical, computational and statistical methods, with the mathematical scientists working alongside those from the particular science under study. We will create opportunities for students and researchers to learn these subjects by working in interdisciplinary and vertically integrated working groups. The Rice University Departments of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computational and Applied Mathematics will jointly organize new courses, seminars and laboratories focussed around four or five interdisciplinary research topics. These activities are designed to weave together the intellectual heritages of pure mathematics, numerical methods, statistical science, and the particular science under study, and the educational strata of faculty, post-docs, graduate students and undergraduates. These topics will also have in them questions which serve as introductions to the fundamental scientific issues of the field. Working in small groups (called PFUG's - Post-doc, Faculty, Undergraduate, Graduate student), students and faculty will explore these questions in heavily mentored, interdisciplinary teams. For our students we will create the opportunity for an exciting research experience in the mathematical sciences, in interaction with another scientific or engineering discipline, and other students, post-docs and faculty who share their fascination who will serve as mentors. Our researchers will be introduced and become involved in topics outside of their research areas in which they also might make substantial contributions. With this VIGRE project, we will reshape the mathematical sciences curriculum at Rice, building on our current strengths and interests, in order to create new opportunities for students and faculty to broaden and deepen their understanding of the ways in which mathematics plays a central role in our growing understanding of the world.