REU Site: Data Science, Number Theory, and Positional Game Theory

Occidental College, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

Participating in research as an undergraduate is an important experience for students as they learn how to think deeply about problems that require them to synthesize material learned across many classes as well as specifically for the research project. Many undergraduates attend institutions that do not afford them the opportunity to participate in research. This project establishes a Research Experience for Undergraduates at Occidental College in Los Angeles. The site will host nine undergraduates each summer, split into teams of three, to work on research problems in data science, game theory, and number theory. An emphasis will be placed on recruiting a diverse group of participants in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic background, as well as type of undergraduate institution being attended. In addition to the research conducted, the mentors will work with the students to improve their public speaking skills and their technical writing skills. The mentors will conduct panels on ethics, graduate school, and career opportunities in mathematics. The program offers a blend of computational investigation with theoretical pursuit of open research problems in data science, number theory and positional game theory. The problems to be investigated in this REU fit into the faculty's own research programs and are at the cutting edge of these fields. As such, the results will be of interest to others in the field and often lead to peer reviewed journal publications. The goal of the program is to help students attain a higher level of independence in mathematical research by having them take part in significant and interesting research projects. The participants will learn what it is like to be a professional mathematician. They will be introduced to various tools, techniques and problems from data science, number theory, and game theory and will work on important and often difficult problems that are suitable for undergraduate work. The faculty have a history of interest in working with undergraduates and success in choosing problems at an appropriate level for undergraduate work. The participants will be able to begin investigations almost immediately on computational aspects of the project, giving them an opportunity to spend the entire time at Occidental working on meaningful research. Students will produce reports summarizing their research for the summer; these reports will be posted on an REU website that is to be developed. Upon departing the REU, they will continue to work with their faculty mentors to produce journal publications when appropriate as well as to attend conferences to present their results. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.