EDT: Front Range Applied Mathematics Exchanges and Workshops

Colorado School Of Mines, Golden CO

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this collaborative project, entitled FRAMEWORK (Front Range Applied Mathematics Exchanges & Workshops), is to transform doctoral training in the mathematical sciences by incorporating writing, presentation, and research activities that provide Ph.D. students with marketable skills and technical tools to further their non-academic career opportunities. By sharing complementary resources at both the University of Wyoming (UW) and the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), the program will sustainably expand capacity, support enriched, non-academic and academic experiences for students, and allow trainees to participate in broadening activities early in their graduate careers, saving later years for intensive work on dissertation projects so that time to degree will not be affected. Prior to the start of formal thesis research, students will develop mathematical and statistical approaches to tackle problems arising in other areas of science and engineering. Each doctoral student supported by FRAMEWORK will spend one or two summer periods working on interdisciplinary research problems in collaboration with an external partner from industry, a national laboratory, or a research institution. Due to these summer research experiences, the students will be well positioned to continue work at the external partners' organizations, thereby gaining experience that could ultimately lead to employment opportunities after graduation. Ultimately, the program will broaden the range of career paths for Ph.D. graduates in the mathematical sciences, and increase the both the quality and quantity of students who complete internships, enter the industrial workforce, and accept postdoctoral positions at national labs. Finally, the FRAMEWORK program will also serve a recruiting tool to increase the number of qualified U.S. students who apply to Ph.D. programs, especially women and under-represented minorities. The FRAMEWORK program contains four central elements: (1) Summer internship opportunities at nonacademic organizations, which will introduce PhD students to applications outside their coursework such as technical communication, project management, proposal writing, and budget development; (2) Annual end-of-summer workshops, during which incoming PhD students will be trained in writing skills and the previous cohort's internship experiences will be showcased; (3) A course exchange program that will enable the shared delivery of foundational graduate courses so that other faculty members will be free to offer new advanced and special-topics courses; and (4) The targeted recruitment of community-college and baccalaureate students at non-doctoral institutions, which will enhance the diversity of the Ph.D. pipeline. A variety of external partners, including the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Western Research Institute, and the Wyoming Technology Business Center, have agreed to collaborate on this project. In consultation with these partners, the FRAMEWORK program has developed broad research problems that complement the strengths of faculty mentors at UW and CSM. Proposed projects include uncertainty quantification for subsurface flow and renewable energy problems, the modeling and simulation of infectious disease dynamics, and computational methods for detecting material flaws in the wheels of railroad cars, among others. The writing workshops, special-topics courses, and summer internship programs will introduce students to professional skills and nonacademic opportunities that are atypical for traditional doctoral programs. In general, this collaborative venture will serve as a portable model for other, similarly paired institutions to cooperate in enhancing doctoral education throughout the nation.