REU Site: DRUMS Directed Research for Undergraduates in Math and Statistics

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

The overall objectives of DRUMS are to (i) get more undergraduate students with diverse backgrounds interested in graduate degrees in mathematical and statistical sciences and their interactions with applications and data science and (ii) provide research opportunities that generate high-quality outputs, including conference abstracts, peer-reviewed journal manuscripts, and open-source computational libraries. Undergraduate students in math and statistics crave real-world experience. Applying techniques, from coursework to challenging problems in collaboration with researchers from other fields, provides students with confidence and a deeper understanding of mathematical and statistical concepts. Paired with a professional development plan, DRUMS will produce a diverse cadre of undergraduate researchers with technical and soft skills well-prepared to pursue graduate programs in STEM fields. This program enhances vertical integration by embedding each team with a graduate student mentor and training inclusive and effective mentors. The work will be disseminated via the DRUMS website, journal publications, and conference presentations. The research problems focus on the interface of math and statistics, solving real-world problems using methods from uncertainty quantification, and the systematic study of mathematical modeling using statistical data analysis to refine models and quantify uncertainties. The pairing of math and statistics is natural, as math forms the foundation of statistics, and statistics is increasingly being used to refine mathematical models. Also, there is a substantial overlap in undergraduate coursework in these fields. Hence, the barriers to collaboration are low, and exposing students to research across these fields will give students a broad perspective on careers in data science. Participating students will work in teams, each with a faculty and a graduate student mentor, engaging in a 1ten-week research program. Teams will be encouraged to submit their work for publication and present it at a professional conference. The program will be supplemented with online preparation in the spring and research meetings during the academic year to ensure that teams produce mature work. The DRUMS program will train a diverse pool of students pursuing graduate studies in STEM fields. The program website is https://drums.wordpress.ncsu.edu/ 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.