What is the REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) Summer Program?

The REU Program is an opportunity for six top undergraduates from around the country to visit NAU to work one-on-one with an actively researching departmental member. The students are on the NAU campus for 8 weeks and attend both regular lectures by NAU Department of Mathematics and Statistics faculty as well as lectures by external visitors. The culmination of the program is the presentation of student projects. The level of research involved is fairly advanced, occasionally leading to joint publications of papers in refereed journals. (Ref. http://odin.math.nau.edu/reuinformation.html)

The program has been going on for eleven years.  Undergraduates, varying from freshman to senior, from small colleges are focused on.

The research topics depends on what are available for the program at the time.  (This summer they are graph theory, image recognition, etc.)

What is expected for the graduates?

• The first week of the program is for the participating students to adjust themselves to the program and be oriented.  They will work on homeworks.  Graduate students usually join from the sedond week to help them have an idea what a research work is about.  The graduates will work with professors to help students (for example, answering basic questions an undergraduate might hesitate to ask professors) for a week.
• Would give a talk about the research the graduates are currently working on, in the level that undergraduate audience would understand.
• This summer, the main research subjects are applied/combinatorics.

What do the graduates gain from the program?

• The number of  research programs for undergraduate students are increasing every year.  Whether it is a graduate or undergraduate research, this is a very good opportunity to have an experience in helping students to do their research.
• Paid trip to NAU!