Mathematics & Statistics Department

Summer Opportunities in Math & Stats 

Many of you are wondering what kind of opportunities are available for math and stats students over the summer. This document hopes to summarize this.

Several faculty members are considering working with students this summer. The last section of this document contains some further information. Please contact them directly if you are interested and would like more information.

  • Greg Anderson (link to apply)

    Probabilistic programs are a structured way to model probability distributions that arise in certain computational problems, especially in machine learning. Alternatively, we can view probabilistic programs as programs which sample from some set of probability distributions. The structure of a probabilistic program gives rise to some interesting avenues for analyzing its behavior, building on existing work in the analysis of deterministic programs. In this work, we aim to automatically search for proofs of correctness for certain classes of properties of systems described by probabilistic programs. This project will require thinking carefully about proof techniques and engaging with some of the details of probability theory and programming language semantics. You can think of it as a "meta-proving" project; we don't just want to prove that particular programs work, we want to come up with a mechanized way to search for proofs given an arbitrary program and correctness specification in some language.

    Since this project is heavily reliant on proof techniques and automation, it'll be important to be comfortable with basic proof strategies (MATH 112 and 113) as well as some coding (CSCI 121, MATH/STAT 141, or similar). The particular strategies I plan to look at also draw somewhat heavily from linear algebra (MATH 201). Beyond those, there are a number of other classes which might be helpful for this research, but I would encourage you to consider it even if you haven't taken these classes:

    - MATH 202 (Vector Calculus)

    - MATH 391 (Probability)

    - CSCI 382 (Algorithms and Data Structures)

    - CSCI 384 (Programming Languages)

  • Erica Blum (consensus algorithms, more information here)
  • Harper Knittel 
    This summer, we will select and study a problem in graph algorithms. This is a broad field of study, including topics like matching (e.g., matching with your tinder date), shortest path (e.g., getting to your tinder date), clustering (e.g., determining who is in your tinder filter radius), and more! Work will be predominantly theory-oriented (proofs of near/optimality, runtime, and hardness), but may include other areas like problem modeling, human experiments, and implementation.
  • Charles McGuffey
  • Anna Ritz (computational biology & graph algorithms - looking for two students interested in developing software - see this github). Apply through the Biology Department by March 5 - email Anna to develop a proposal.
  • Lenny Wainstein (statistics)

 

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 $6,600 stipend for a ten-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 $6,600 stipend to a continuing Reed student for a ten-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 5, 2025. Email Angélica Osorno 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 5, 2025.

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. Many companies hire undergraduate students during the summer for internships. Contact CLBR for help with this. Here are some links with lists of these opportunities:

Mathematics:

Statistics and Data Science:

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.

Some specific programs we have received information about:

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