Mathematics & Statistics Department

Several faculty members are considering working with students this summer. Please contact them directly if you are interested and would like more information. 

• Adrien Allorant (Exploring Alternative Measures of Socio-Economic Position in Low and Middle-Income Countries, see description below)
• Zajj Daugherty (combinatorial representation theory and symmetric functions)
• Kyle Ormsby and Angélica Osorno (transfer systems - more information below)
• David Perkinson (matroid theory)
• Anna Ritz (computational biology & graph algorithms - see this paper or this paper. Also looking for students interested in developing software - see this github)
• Lenny Wainstein (statistics)

Exploring Alternative Measures of Socio-Economic Position in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Background: Traditional methods of assessing socio-economic status, such as income or consumption data, are often inadequate in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly among vulnerable populations. The Wealth Index, developed in 2001, sought to address this gap by using household asset ownership data from demographic surveys to estimate socio-economic position. While this approach has been widely used, it has notable limitations, including a bias towards urban households and the use of a simplistic household model that may not accurately reflect varied family structures across different cultures.

Project Overview: This research project aims to investigate and develop alternative methods for measuring socio-economic status in LMICs. The project will involve a thorough review of existing asset-based socio-economic indices and an exploration of new methodologies that could provide a more accurate reflection of socio-economic positions in these regions.

Contact: Adrien Allorant

Transfer Systems

Kyle Ormsby & Angélica Osorno seek six Reed students to conduct research on transfer systems, a combinatorial aspect of equivariant homotopy theory, as part of our NSF-funded Collaborative Mathematics Research Group (CMRG). To learn more about the subject, check out our survey article in the Notices of the AMS! (The CMRG projects will be independent from the MRC mentioned in the article. Also note that references [BHK+23, BMO23, BMO24, FOO+22, HML24] from the article are all coauthored with undergrads!)

The program runs for seven weeks from July 8 to August 23, with participants in-person on campus. Participants will receive a $4480 stipend but must arrange their own housing for the summer.

For full consideration, apply by February 23 at this link. You must submit (1) a personal statement and (2) the name of a faculty reference. The personal statement should consist of at most one page of English prose including:

(a) Your relevant background and experience, including prior research, mathematics projects, ormathematics-related jobs.
(b) Your reasons for interest in the program.
(c) Your professional goals.

The Mathematics and Statistics Department has established three summer research/reading fellowships.

Noether and Wieting Fellowships

The Emmy Noether Memorial Fellowship at Reed College was established by an anonymous Reed math alumnus interested in honoring an inspirational figure in the field of mathematics and creating opportunities for more mathematicians like her. It is designated for a continuing Reed student whose lived experience (e.g. gender, racial, ethnic) is underrepresented within mathematics. The fellowship offers a $5,120 stipend for an eight-week research or reading project conducted with a Reed Mathematics faculty member. 

The Professor Thomas Wieting Mathematics and Physics Student Fellowship Fund was established through donations in honor of Mathematics Professor Tom Wieting, who taught at Reed for more than 50 years and had interests in differential geometry, analysis, and mathematical physics. The fellowship offers a $5,120 stipend to a continuing Reed student for an eight-week research project in Mathematics and Statistics and/or Physics. The project does not have to take place at Reed, and additional funds are available for travel if that is necessary. Priority will be given to projects in the intersection of mathematics and physics.

Learn more about the Tom Wieting and Emmy Noether's incredible story.

Applications are due on March 6, 2024. Email Dave Perkinson if you have questions.

Reed College Science Research Fellowship

Funding is available from the Reed College Science Research Fellowship (RCSRF) to facilitate and financially support summer research by teams of Reed College faculty and students.

Applications are due on March 6, 2024.

There are many research opportunities for undergraduates, most of them funded by the NSF (National Science Foundation). Many of these opportunities have deadlines that have already passed, but there are many that you can still apply for. Here are some links with lists of these opportunities:

https://mathalliance.org/math-alliance-partners/affiliates/
https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/list_result.jsp?unitid=5044
http://www.ams.org/programs/students/emp-reu

In addition, we have received some announcements for some opportunities at other places. I'm including them here, but these are by no means the only opportunities available.

MSRI-UP

The MSRI Undergraduate Program (MSRI-UP) is a comprehensive summer program designed for undergraduate students who have completed two years of university-level mathematics courses and would like to conduct research in the mathematical sciences. Due to funding restrictions, only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible to apply. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students are also eligible thanks to generous funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The program cannot accept foreign students regardless of funding.

Applications submitted by February 15, 2024 will receive full consideration. (Applications submitted between February 15 and March 1, 2024 may still be considered in a second round of acceptances.) We expect to begin making offers for participation in late February or early March 2024.

https://www.slmath.org/msri-up (June 15 - July 27, 2024)

eCHT-REU

The electronic Computational Homotopy Theory (eCHT) research community is an NSF-sponsored project. Its goal is to provide an online home for a widely dispersed, international community of mathematicians who share similar mathematical interests.

eCHT is sponsoring a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Summer 2024. Our goal is not to completely reproduce the experience of an on-site REU. Rather, we aim to provide much of the benefit of participating in an REU for students who are unable (perhaps for personal reasons) to participate in an on-site program.

Irina Bobkova (Texas A&M) will serve as project mentor.

The program runs June 10 - July 19, 2024 with a weekday time commitment of 9am-2pm PT / 12pm-5pm ET. Participants will receive a $3,600 stipend, and additional need-based grants up to $1,000 are available to subsidize participation costs, such as access to required technology. We are especially interested in recruiting students who want to experience the benefits of an REU, but are unable (perhaps for personal reasons) to participate in an on-site program.

For program details, see https://s.wayne.edu/echt/reu-2024/. Apply by February 15, 2024 at https://www.mathprograms.org/db/programs/1551 to receive full consideration.

SUMSA

The Summer Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics Accelerator (SUMSA) is an eight week mathematics and statistics summer bootcamp for undergraduates at U.S. colleges and universities which will be hosted by IMSI on the campus of the University of Chicago. The aim of the program is to help prepare students for the rigors of graduate school in a mathematical science with lecture series and problems sessions taught by experienced postdocs and advanced graduate students from the University of Chicago. The primary focus of this bootcamp is basic coursework; in particular, the program is not an REU, which tends to be more project-oriented.

This program is open to students who will be rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors at U.S. colleges and universities and will be at least 18 years old at the time the program begins. Participants must be able to spend the full eight weeks in residence during the program.

Further information and the application are available on the program’s web page. Applications are due by February 16, 2024.

IPAM

The Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) is excited to share with you its upcoming 2024 Research in Industrial Projects for Students (RIPS) summer research opportunity for undergraduate students! In this program, students work in teams on projects that are sponsored by an industrial partner. The projects cover a wide range of real-world topics, including big data, optimization, transportation, quantum computing, and biotech.

The application period for these programs will close on February 12, 2024. If any undergraduate students you know would be interested in a summer of solving real world problems in industry, please pass along this email about the RIPS program.    

Many companies hire undergraduate students during the summer for internships. Contact the Center for Life Beyond Reed for help with this.