St. Mary’s College of Maryland Professor of Mathematics Sandy Ganzell and Associate Professor of Mathematics Casey Douglas have been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The grant will support a research program for undergraduate students, to be held three summers over a five-year period at St. Mary’s College. The seven-week program is a designated NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site and will commence summer 2016.
The program will bring 12 undergraduate students to the honors college to engage in mathematical research and includes seminars designed to prepare them for advanced mathematics courses. Students will also benefit from academic and professional-development activities.
According to Ganzell, “This REU is unique in that it is only open to students early in their college careers. Our goal is to improve retention among underrepresented students by providing access to research typically only available to those who are already highly accomplished in the discipline.”
Ganzell and Douglas’s award builds upon an 11-year success record of Emerging Scholars Programs at St. Mary’s College, helping underrepresented students prepare for majoring in mathematics, for graduate school and for careers in STEM fields.
NSF funds research opportunities for undergraduate students through its REU Sites program. REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects specifically designed for the REU program.