The PFMF meeting for October 15 was a presentation of the SUMS program at ASU by the founder of the program Dr. J. Bustoz.
The SUMS Institute, Institute for Strengthening Understanding of Mathematics and Science, was founded in 1985 by the ASU mathematics professor Dr. Bustoz. Bustoz’s idea and original goal was "to recruit and retain minority students in mathematics and science."
Although the enrollment in the program was below 40 students for the first three years (1985 - 1987), the trend changed rapidly after 1987, and in 1989 the enrollment in the SUMS institute program was just a few students short if the 175 participants mark.
Today the program honors applicants from all ethnic backgrounds. To be eligible to participate in the five week long summer program at ASU main, the applicant have to:
Further more, "the program is limited to students from families with annual income of $40,000 or less." Once accepted into the SUMS program, the participant lives on ASU’s campus while taking a university level mathematics or science course. All expenses for the participants are paid with fundings from ASU. During the first years of operation, the program was funded from private foundations.
Following the presentation, we, the participants in the PFMF program, and Dr. Bustoz discussed possible future projects PFMF participants can do for the SUMS institute.