[grads] Research and a Poster Competition

[Fred J. Hickernell]

Dear Applied Mathematics undergraduate and graduate students,

As you should be aware, research -- the discovery of knowledge -- is  
an important part of our department's activity, not only for  
professors and graduate students, but for undergraduate students as  
well. I would like to briefly review some of our accomplishments as  
well as mention some new opportunities.

RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
In the past year or so we have been trying to foster applied  
mathematics research in a number of ways. Please forgive me if I have  
missed something.

o There has been an increase in the number of grant proposals  
submitted and several proposals successfully funded (Profs. Bielecki,  
Duan, Ellis, and Li). Some of these grant proposals are for large  
interdisciplinary projects with heavy applied mathematics involvement.

o In addition to our active departmental colloquium, there have been  
three ongoing seminar series (discrete, mathematical finance, and  
mesh-free) focusing on specific research interests.

o Prof. Jerry Frank published a research monograph on copulas. A  
research monograph on mesh-free methods by Prof. Greg Fasshauer is in  
press.

o Faculty members are active in organizing research conferences,  
including one at IIT, one in Italy, and another in Portugal this summer.

o A number of professors from other universities have visited us to  
engage in research with our faculty and students. Next month we will  
have the first Menger Memorial Lecture, given by Prof. Karl Sigmund  
of the University of Vienna, plus additional formal and informal  
meetings of Prof. Sigmund with faculty and students. Next fall we  
hope to have a sabbatical visitor from Germany teaching here, who  
will also be leading a research seminar involving faculty and students.

o With the help of the librarian, we have increased our applied  
mathematics journal holdings substantially, and added Web of Science.

o This Spring Profs. Fasshauer and Pelsmajer started a mathematics- 
based IPRO project to involve undergraduates in an interdisciplinary,  
independent, team effort. Prof. Pelsmajer also led a group of faculty  
in offering MATH 100 Introduction to the Profession. Our hope is that  
exposing undergraduate students to various aspects of applied  
mathematics will help them get into research before they graduate.

o Last summer 3 of our students (Jon Beagley, Mike McCourt and James  
Pierce), participated in NSF-funded summer Research Experiences for  
Undergraduates (REUs).

o A number of undergraduate students have been conducting research  
with professors under the MATH 491 code.

o Both graduate and undergraduate students have been supported by the  
Department to attend conferences and present the results of their  
research.  (Students planning to attending a conference in the coming  
year should fill out a form available Gladys Collins as early as  
possible.)

o Several graduate students have undertaken research, summer  
internships, and consulting work at Argonne National Laboratories and  
local companies.

o The College of Science and Letters has instituted summer  
scholarships to conduct research for undergraduate students,  
beginning this summer. The Applied Mathematics Department also has  
recently announced two summer research scholarships open to  
undergraduate and graduate students. The deadline for application is  
this Friday, March 16 (March 19 should be okay).

As you can see, a broad spectrum of faculty and students have  
contributed to our research efforts. A big THANK YOU to everyone.

APPLIED MATHEMATICS STUDENT POSTER COMPETITION
To encourage our students in their research I would like to announce  
a new initiative. The Department of Applied Mathematics will be  
initiating a poster competition for student research next month.

Date: Friday, April 20, 2007
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Place: To be announced
Poster size: 4 feet high by 3 feet wide
Refreshments provided by the Math Club

To participate, send an email to Gladys Collins, collinsg at iit.edu,  
with your name, program and year, and title of your poster bay  
Friday, April 13, 2007. The posters will be judged and prizes given  
to the top 2 graduate posters and the top undergraduate poster. These  
posters will be nominated to participate in IIT's research day on  
Tuesday, April 24.

The purpose of this competition is to let students and faculty see  
all of the research that students are conducting in our department.  
The competition will give students good practice in presenting their  
work to others. Besides designing the poster, students need to  
explain to visitors what their research is about.

Undergraduates may also wish to participate in the third annual  
Chicago Area Undergraduate Research Symposium (http://www.caurs.com),  
which will be held on April 14, 2007 at Kasbeer Hall on Loyola  
University's Water Tower Campus, 25 E. Pearson Street. Registration  
is open until March 30 but if you register by the 16th, you will be  
entered in the iPod raffle. The poster registration is at http:// 
www.caurs.com/submit.php.

Hope to see many of you at the Poster Competition on April 20!

Best regards,
Fred

_____________________________________________________
Fred J. Hickernell, Professor and Chair
Department of Applied Mathematics, Illinois Institute of Technology
E1 Bldg Rm 208, 10 West 32nd Street, Chicago, IL 60616
Email: fred at math.iit.edu, Web: www.iit.edu/~hickerne
Office Phone: 1 312 567 8983, Office Fax: 1 312 567 3135
Cell Phone: 1 630 696 8124


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