Summer Research in OK!

Adrienne Jablonski let us know of this great opportunity to do biomedical research in OKC this summer.  It’s a great opportunity for OU math folks with an interest in biology/med school/etc.  Check it out!  Notice that it is a paid opportunity and the deadline is February 1, 2012!

Good afternoon,

We are now accepting applications for Fleming Scholar Program at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s (OMRF).  If you know any scientifically passionate students, will you please encourage them to apply (http://omrf.org/fleming)?

This program grants selected students an opportunity to work side-by-side with real life research scientists for eight weeks during the summer.  Scholars also get paid and housing is provided for those who qualify.  Applicants do NOT need to have any prior science experience or formal education.   Passion, curiosity, diligence and enthusiasm are really what we are looking for.

The application deadline is February 1, and more information is available at http://omrf.org/fleming.

Requirements:

• Submit online application by February 1
• Send (or have sent) up to three recommendation letters
• Possess strong enthusiasm for science
• Be a high school senior or college freshman, sophomore or junior
• Be a graduate or soon-to-be graduate from an Oklahoma high school

The fantastic Fleming Scholar Program flyer can be viewed here: http://omrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fleming-2012.pdf.

I really appreciate you posting flyers and helping us spread the word!  If you, your colleagues or students need additional information, do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you!

Courtney Stevens, SPHR

Human Resources Advisor

Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

825 NE 13th Street

Oklahoma City, OK 73104

(800)522-0211 toll free

(405)271-7434 office

Holiday Gift?

Dr. Lee

Many people don’t realize it, but only half of a professor’s job at OU is teaching.  The other half is doing research.  To advertise this side of the department, this is the first installment of a series of posts about research in the OU math department.

Today we’re talking about Dr. Kyung-Bai Lee.

Why him?

Because he has a brand new book out:

The next Harry Potter or Twilight?

What is a Seifert Fibering?  You can read about Seifert fiber spaces on Wikipedia, but the short version is that they are gadgets which show up in Dr. Lee’s area of expertise: Geometric Topology.  That, in turn, is the area of math about objects which are interesting topologically but can be also studied using analysis type tools like differentiation and differential equations.   This is the same area of math which involves the Poincare Conjecture and Thurston’s Geometrization Conjecture (which we discussed here).

 

To give you an idea of all the work Dr. Lee has done, if you look on MathSciNet (the catalog of research papers in math), you’ll see the Dr. Lee has 57 research papers!  It’s hard work to develop all that new math.  No wonder he’s taking a sabbatical leave this spring!  Of course, a sabbatical is the opposite of a vacation.  All it does is give a professor a semester off from teaching so that he or she can do research full time.  No doubt, Dr. Lee is hard-core.

 

If you are looking for presents for people, you can buy Dr. Lee’s book at amazon.com (although it looks like they’re sold out right now!).  If you ask nicely, Dr. Lee will probably even autograph it for you!

 

Warning if you are about to buy a copy for your uncle David:  the publisher describes the target audience as “Graduate students and research mathematicians interested in topology”,  so your uncle had better be a big fan of topology!

 

If you’re interested in taking a look, you can also peruse it at google books.

 

A somewhat related topic in math is Seifert surfaces which show up in knot theory.  Other than the fact that they are related, we mention them here because it gives us an excuse to show you some of the niftiest pictures and videos on the web.  Dr. Ken Baker, a topologist at the University of Miami, has a great blog called Sketches of Topology where he posts graphics he makes as part of his research.  Check it out:

Click On the Picture!

 

Or:

Summer Jobs doing Research

Is there a plan B?

Even though there is snow on the ground, you might want to start thinking about what you’ll be doing in the summer.  Well, if you are planning to be chief tater tot fry cook at your local Sonic, then you’ve got plenty of time.  But if you’d like to get paid to do cutting edge research in math, physics, biology, engineering, computer science, …., then now is the time to get moving.

There are literally hundreds of programs around the country.  We’ve already mentioned a few:  like this one. The biggest bunch are the REUs (Research Experience for Undergraduates).  These are programs funded by the National Science Foundation (aka the government).

To give you an idea, here are the places which had an REU in 2009:

P.S. There are ones in Hawaii and the Arctic, too!

The right question to ask yourself is “How to I get one of these sweet gigs?”  The answer is simple.  Follow these easy steps:

• Go to the OU Math Department’s page on REUs. This has lots of good informaton, including some excellent advice on how to go about applying.
• Go to the NSF master list of REUs for 2010.  You can search for REUs by location and area of research.  It also provides links to the programs so you can learn more details about what exactly they will be doing for research.
• Important! There is lots of interesting REUs beyond math.  It is well worth applying to other REUs if they look interesting (your intrepid correspondent did a mechanical engineering REU!).
• There are also other REU-type programs which are not on this list.  The OU webpage lists several and no doubt you can google others.
• Don’t delay! Although the deadlines are still weeks away, it takes quite awhile to get everything put together and you don’t want to rush it.  Plus, you usually need letters of recommendation from professors and nothing annoys letter writers like short deadlines (and you don’t want annoyed recommendation writers!)

Research Experience for Undergrads

A Research Experience for Undergraduates (or REU) is a program where undergrads do research with a faculty member and receive a salary for doing so.  Many of them are summer programs where they provide you with housing and a salary along with the chance to do research.  It’s a good deal all around.  It’s a great chance to get some experience.   It gives you the chance to see if you’re interested in a particular area, or even interested in doing research in general (for example, while doing a REU in mechanical engineering, certain people learned that they liked doing research, but definitely not in mechanical engineering!).  It also looks very good on your resume when you’re applying for jobs and graduate school.

If you are interested in the idea of doing an REU, there are people at OU who’ve done one and can tell you what it’s like.  If you’d like to see what sort of REU’s are out there, go to the math department’s undergraduate webpage and you’ll find a link to the list of all the REU’s in mathematics funded by the National Science Foundation.

Many of the REU’s have an application deadline at the end of January or beginning of February.  If you’re interested in applying, you should start looking at programs now so that you have time to do applications and get letters of recommendation in time for the deadlines.

Closer to home, there is a REU at OU on metrology.  Who knew that there was still research to be done on the simple act of measuring things?  If you’re interested in engineering, or are interested in staying in Norman for the summer and doing something more interesting than working retail, then this could be just your thing.  They sent us the following and asked us to share it with you:

Hello:

I am pleased to announce that the School of Industrial Engineering at the University of Oklahoma will be hosting its Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Metrology for its eighth summer.  The Metrology REU is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense.

The Metrology REU gives undergraduate students in engineering, science, and mathematics the opportunity to conduct research in several exciting areas, including coordinate tolerance metrology, roughness metrology, reverse engineering, biomanufacturing applications, and nano-metrology, among others.

The REU will take place from June 3 to August 7, 2009, and offers a summer stipend of $3000 with housing, some meals, and travel paid.

Please see the attached flier and visit our (soon to be re-designed) website, http://www.ou.edu/metrology/, for more information.  Questions can be directed to metrology@ou.edu.

We hope to see you at the OU Metrology REU this summer!

Thanks,
Kash

Addendum:  We’ve also received the following announcement for an REU:

Dear Colleague:

On behalf of the College of Engineering at Boston University, I am
pleased to announce that the College will host National Science
Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program in
Photonics research this year.

This program encourages students from all engineering, mathematics and
natural science disciplines to apply. Specific program details and
requirements can be found on our website at www.bu.edu/eng/reu. The
application system is now open for students to begin the application
process. The deadline is February 15, 2009.

I thank you in advance for sharing this information with your students
and colleagues. If you have any questions or would like a flyer to post
in your department, please contact us at reu@bu.edu or at the phone
number listed below.

Sincerely,

Sarah Silva

Addendum 2:

Esteemed colleague,

San Diego State University is pleased to invite applications to its
Summer 2009 Mathematics Research Experiences for Undergraduates and
Teachers program.  The program dates this year will be June 22 –
August 14, and the projects will be in biomathematics and mathematics
education.

Please announce to any interested and qualified undergraduates,
inservice teachers, as well as to any graduate students interested in
leading a project team.  The program will pay a stipend and provide
room and board for nonlocal participants.  The application deadline is
March 2. For a detailed program description and application
instructions/materials, please see the program website:

http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/math-reu/index.html

Thank you for your assistance in sharing this opportunity, as well as
with writing letters of recommendation.

Best wishes,
Vadim Ponomarenko
Program Director

Addendum 3:

Here is yet another summer research opportunity.