SUMRY 2014

The Summer Undergraduate Math Research at Yale, or SUMRY, is a ten week summer program designed to promote research in mathematics and the mathematical sciences among Yale undergraduates. We are looking for about twenty highly motivated students to work individually or in small groups on open problems in the mathematical sciences (most of the problems are listed in the project descriptions page, but there may be others).  These problems will have real mathematical value and are also intended to be approachable by students who have a solid background in advanced calculus and linear algebra (experience with math courses 230 or higher should be sufficient). Students will be guided by a half-dozen graduate student mentors and two postdoc coordinators, and directed by professors Amanda Folsom and Sam Payne.

A crucial part of scientific research is communication, both with your peers as well as experts in the field. Not only do you learn about how others approach their research problem, you gain insight by carefully formulating your ideas in a manner accessible to those outside your project. To that end, participants will regularly present their findings to the other teams, and will be encouraged to travel to regional and/or national conferences to share their research with others outside of the Yale community.  Also, participants will prepare final papers; in many cases these final papers may be revised further during the academic year, and eventually submitted for publication in professional journals. Note that prior research experience is not required, and there are projects suitable for a range of backgrounds, including the very advanced.

In addition to research, we will have regular lectures by SUMRY coordinators and from Yale faculty members outside of this summer program. This will give students a chance to learn about interesting areas of mathematics that appear outside of the standard curriculum of an undergraduate mathematics sequence.

As with any strenuous academic program, mental digressions in the form of social activities are a must. We are open to suggestions, but we are thinking about organizing outdoor activities like soccer, ultimate Frisbee, or hiking.   Other options are evening activities like movie night or Shakespeare in the Park, or even weekend trips taking us outside of New Haven.  We hope that this will not only be an academically fruitful summer, but also an enjoyable one.