Nebraska IMMERSE Intensive Mathematics: a Mentoring, Education and Research Summer Experience Director: Professor Tom Marley email: tmarley@math.unl.edu phone: (402) 472-7250 Overview of the Program Nebraska
IMMERSE is the centerpiece of the Department's MCTP program. IMMERSE
has two interweaving components: one that strengthens the preparation
of students who are about to enter their first year of graduate study
in mathematics (these students are referred to as "pre-grads"), and one
that develops the teaching, research, and mentoring skills of graduate
students and early-career faculty. The dates for the 2005 IMMERSE Program are: June 27 - August 4 Pre-grads June 13 - August 4 Graduate students, Early-career faculty The IMMERSE participants can be grouped as follows: 16
pre-grads: These are students who will be starting graduate school in
mathematics, either at UNL or elsewhere, the following fall. Pre-grad
participants will receive room, board, a travel allowance, and a $3000
stipend. 6
UNL graduate students: Three of these students will have just finished
their first year of graduate school while the other three will be
beginning their final year of graduate study. These six students are
the recipients of the MCTP Graduate Traineeships. 4
Early-career Faculty: These are mathematics faculty who have earned
their PhDs after January 1, 1999 and are employed at colleges or
universities which do not have doctoral programs in mathematics. These
participants will receive room, board, a travel allowance, and a
$10,000 stipend. In addition, $7500 will be given to their home
institutions for release time from teaching in the 2005 spring semester
to work on research and to prepare for their IMMERSE courses.
Structure of IMMERSE Mentoring
at Nebraska IMMERSE will be very much vertically integrated: the early
career faculty will be mentored by senior UNL faculty, the graduate
students will be mentored by each other and the early-career faculty,
and the pre-grads will be mentored by the early-career faculty and the
graduate students. For
the pre-grads, the main component of the program consists of two
intensive courses: one in algebra and one in analysis. The courses will
be at the advanced undergraduate/beginning graduate level. However,
rather than working through a textbook, the courses will be structured
around the reading of research papers. The IMMERSE course coordinators
(two UNL faculty) will select papers that use as tools some of the
topics which typically appear in first-year graduate algebra and
analysis courses, and then structure the IMMERSE courses around the
material of the papers. Each course is team-taught by a pair of
early-career faculty, with a mixed group of three first-year and
advanced graduate students serving as teaching assistants. There will
also be several special presentations/colloquiums/workshops throughout
the six weeks, which will provide additional forums for exploring
issues the pre-grads are likely to face as they begin graduate school.
We will have at least three guest speakers, each of whom will give an
overview of current research topics in his/her mathematical area. As
stated above, the program for the graduate students and early-career
faculty will begin two weeks prior to the start of the IMMERSE courses.
At the time of their arrival, the early-career faculty and graduate
students will work with the course coordinators to finalize their plans
for the six-week courses. (The early-career faculty and the course
coordinators will have begun planning these courses during the Spring
2005 semester.) Additionally, each early-career faculty participant
will have a research mentor in the form of a senior UNL faculty member.
Over the course of the eight weeks, the early career faculty will work
with their research mentors to identify and begin work on a joint
research project. The collaboration is expected to carry over into the
next academic year via email and research visits. (An additional travel
allowance for this purpose is given to the early-career faculty
partipants.) Selection of IMMERSE participants Pre-grads: Any
student who intends to begin graduate study in mathematics in the U.S.
in the fall of 2005 is eligible for the program. Selection will be
based on transcripts, letters of recommendation, and a personal essay
on what the applicant hopes to gain from the program. Applications for
the 2005 program are due on March 15, 2005, with notification given by
April 15, 2005. More details on the application process will be posted
on this page later in the year. Graduate student mentors: These UNL students are the recipients of the MCTP graduate traineeships. Click here for more information on these traineeships. Early-career faculty: These
participants will be selected based on the applicants' qualifications
and potential to benefit from the program. In addition, preference will
be given to applicants whose research interests lie in the research
areas of one or more UNL faculty members. Candidates for the
early-career faculty positions must be U.S. citizens, nationals, or
permanent residents currently employed in non-doctoral-granting
mathematics departments and should have earned their PhDs after January
1, 1999. To apply for the 2005 program, please send a copy of your CV,
a cover letter indicating your research interests and how you expect to
benefit from participation in the IMMERSE program, and a letter of
support from your home institution describing what reduction(s) in
teaching and/or service-related activities you will be granted in the
Spring of 2005 for research and preparation for IMMERSE. The deadline
for applications is October 15, 2004, with notification by November 1,
2004. Send application materials to: Nebraska IMMERSE Prof. Tom Marley, Program Director Department of Mathematics University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588-0130
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