Faculty and Student Research

Research

Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate Research (UR)

The UVU Math Department offers Undergraduate Research opportunities that are aimed toward involving and engaging students in research problems on various topics.

The Undergraduate Research experience provides students with opportunities to:

- work closely with the math department faculty on a research project,

- engage in active learning outside of class settings,

- develop important skills and deepen their knowledge in a particular area,

- experience what it means to be part of an engaged research community,

- explore career choices,

- present their work with audience within and beyond UVU,

- publish their work.

All of these opportunities greatly benefit and enrich students involved in Undergraduate Research.

If you want to receive updates and info on undergraduate research please contact us.

Students who are interested in getting involved in Undergraduate Research should explore the topics of interest Undergraduate Research Topics and contact the appropriate faculty as soon as possible.

Research Experience for Undergraduates

“An REU Site consists of a group of ten or so undergraduates who work in the research programs of the host institution. Each student is associated with a specific research project, where he/she works closely with the faculty and other researchers. Students are granted stipends and, in many cases, assistance with housing and travel.”

For more info please visit

http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/

For list of all NSF (National Science Foundation) please visit:

http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/list_result.jsp?unitid=5044

If interested in any of the listed NSF funded REU sites, please contact the individual sites for information and application materials. Each site has contact person and contact information listed on the above website.

Another list of REU (summer) programs is maintained by AMS (American Mathematical Society) can be found at

http://www.ams.org/programs/students/emp-reu.
(Note that some of the REU programs might be listed on both, NSF and AMS, websites.)

IMPORTANT: Most deadlines for summer REU programs are in February and March.

“Is an REU for you?” – Go to:

https://www.maa.org/programs/students/undergraduate-research/research-experiences-for-undergraduates

Opportunities

MAA website for undergraduate students (link to https://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/member-communities/students) that provides info on

Meetings and Conferences
Semester and Summer Programs
Student resources (link to https://www.maa.org/programs/students/undergraduate-research)
Information and Resources (link to https://www.maa.org/programs/students/undergraduate-research/information-and-resources) that provides guidelines and tips for giving good oral and poster presentations, etc.

Some of the Programs for Undergraduate Students:

PCMI Undergraduate Summer Program
Budapest Semesters in Mathematics (link to http://www.budapestsemesters.com/)
AMS Math in Moscow Scholarship Program (link to http://www.ams.org/programs/travel-grants/mimoscow)
Jacobs Semester in Mathematics (link to http://math.jacobs-university.de/international/)
MASS Program at Penn State (http://www.math.psu.edu/mass/)

Opportunities to present:

UVU Engagement Week (I will need to check tomorrow for the exact name of this conference)
UCUR (Utah Conference for Undergraduate Research) (link to https://www.uvu.edu/undergrad-research/student-research/apply-for-funding/ucur.html)
NCUR (National Conference for Undergraduate Research) (link to www.ncur.org)
MAA Intermountain meetings (http://sections.maa.org/intermountain/)
Math Fest (link to http://www.maa.org/meetings/mathfest ) (national meeting usually held at the end of July/beginning of August)
JMM (Joint Mathematics Meetings) (link to http://jointmathematicsmeetings.org/jmm) (national meeting usually held in January)
Other nationwide conferences lhttps://www.maa.org/)

Funding opportunities (https://www.uvu.edu/cos/student_funding_resources.html):

Internal funding

External funding

MAA provides grants for students to present at MathFest and JMM
SIAM student travel awards

Publishing:

There are various journals that publish undergraduate research results. The AMS website for students contains a great link "Publish or Present Research” that list some of those journals.

Completed Projects

Project Topic 2015 - 2016	Student	Advisor
Origami in Teaching Geometry GeoGebra	Stina Nyhus	Dr. Violeta Vasilevska

Presentations:

Creating Math-Art Designs using Origami and Conic Sections, Stina Nyhus, Intermountain/Rocky Mountain Section Meeting, April 8, 2016
Conic Sections within Math-Art-Designs, Stina Nyhus, Engaged Learning week, March 29, 2016.
The Math behind Art Designs, Stina Nyhus, Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics, Lincoln, NE, January 30, 2016.
Conic Sections within Math-Art-Designs, Srina Nyhus, Joint Mathematics Meetings, Seattle, WA, January 8, 2016.
Connecting Math and Art through Geometry and GeoGebra, Stina Nyhus, MAA MathFest, Washington, DC, August 7, 2015.
Enhancing High School Girls’ Education Through Technology, Stina Nyhus, Violeta Vasilevska, The Fourth International Women of the Mountain Conference, Orem, UT, October 7-9, 2015

Project Topic 2014 - 2015	Students	Advisor
Ehrhard Theory Number Theory	Daniel L. Gulbrandsen Christopher (Kit) Vander Wilt	Dr. Violeta Vasilevska

Presentations:

Quasi-polynomials as Integer Point Counting Functions, Daniel Gulbrandsen, MAA MathFest, Washington, DC, August 7, 2015.
Polygons and Counting: Where’s the Point?, Daniel Gulbrandsen, Christopher Vander Wilt, Engaged Learning Week, Orem, UT, March 31, 2015.
Using Quasi-polynomials to Count Integer points, Daniel Gulbrandsen, Christopher Vander Wilt, MAA Intermountain Section, Provo, UT, March 20, 2015.
Counting Integer Points in Scaled Polytops, Daniel Gulbrandsen, Christopher Vander Wilt, UCUR (Utah Conference for Undergraduate Research), St. George, UT, February 27, 2015.
Counting Integral Points Contained in Scaled Polygons, Daniel Gulbrandsen, Christopher Vander Wilt, Utah Regional Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, Orem, UT, November 1, 2014.

Project Topics
2013 - 2015

Students

Advisor

Geometric Group Theory
Number Theory

Daniel M. Adams
Daniel L. Guldbrandsen
Kristen D. Smith

Dr. Violeta Vasilevska

Presentations:

Investigating Properties of Cay( and Cay(, Daniel Gulbrandsen, Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Antonio, TX, January 12, 2015. (Poster Presentation)
Exploring Properties of Cay( and Cay(, Daniel Adams, Daniel Gulbrandsen, Utah Regional Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, Orem, UT, November 1, 2014.
Exploring Properties of Cay( and Cay(, Daniel Adams, Daniel Gulbrandsen, MAA MathFest, Portland, OR, August 7, 2014.
Ends of Cayley Graphs of with Infinite Generating Sets, Daniel Adams, Kristen Smith, MAA Intermountain Sectional Meeting, Orem, UT, March 28, 2014.
Hyperbolicity of Cayley Graphs of with Infinite Generating Sets, Daniel Gulbrandsen, MAA Intermountain Sectional Meeting, Orem, UT, March 28, 2014.
Having Fun with Cayley Graphs, Daniel Adams, Daniel Gulbrandsen, Kristen Smith, UVU Engagement Week, Orem, UT, March 25, 2014.
Ends of the Cayley Graphs of with Infinite Generating Sets, Daniel Adams, Kristen Smith, CURM Student Research Conference, Provo, UT, March 14, 2014.
Hyperbolicity of the Cayley Graphs of with Infinite Generating Sets, Daniel Gulbrandsen, CURM Student Research Conference, Provo, UT, March 14, 2014.
Are Cay( and Cay( quasi-isometric?, Daniel Adams, Daniel Gulbrandsen, CURM Student Research Conference, Provo, UT, March 14, 2014.
Exploring Properties of Cayley Graphs of with Infinite Generating Sets, Daniel Adams, Daniel Gulbrandsen, UCUR, Provo, UT, February 20, 2014.
Exploring Properties of Cayley Graphs with Infinite Generating Sets, Daniel Adams, Daniel Gulbrandsen, UVU Math Department Seminar, Ore, UT, February 21, 2014.

Publications:

D. Adams, D. Gulbrandsen, V. Vasilevska, "Exploring properties of Cayley graphs of the Integers with infinite generating sets," Mathematics Exchange, Vol. 10 No.1, (2016), 40-50. (PDF)

Fall/Winter 2013-2014, Volume 6 publication Utah Mathematics Teacher
Beyond Logic: Tapping into the Multiple Intelligences in the Mathematics Classroom
Melissa Cossey, Utah Valley University Student

Fall/Winter 2013-2014 publication Utah Mathematics Teacher
The Allred-Spencer Theorem
David Spencer, Utah Valley University Student

Fall/Winter 2012-2013, Volume 5 publication Utah Mathematics Teacher
Student Participation in the classroom
Tristan Wilkie, Utah Valley University student

Fall/Winter 2012-2013, Volume 5 publication Utah Mathematics Teacher
When are we ever going to use this?
McKay Crockett, Utah Valley University student

Fall/Winter 2011-2012, Volume 4 publication Utah Mathematics Teacher
Numerical Base Systems
Joylyn Loveridge, Utah Valley University student

Fall/Winter 2010-2011, Volume 3 publication Utah Mathematics Teacher
ESL Learners in the mathematics classroom
Matthew Rhees, Utah Valley University student

Fall/Winter 2010-2011, Volume 3 publication Utah Mathematics Teacher
Discovering derivatives
Jan Jenkins, Utah Valley University student

Fall/Winter 2009-2010, Volume 2 publication Utah Mathematics Teacher Probability isn’t crap
Lindsey Cracroft, Utah Valley University student

Project Topics
2011 – 2014

Mentoring
Outreach High School Activities

Students

Sydney Butler (2013-14)
Kristen Smith (2012-14)
Emily Stucki (2013-14)
Megan DeJager (2012-13)
Lisa Ream (2012-13)
Joylin Loveridge (2011-12)
Mary Petersen (2011-12)
Victoria Kala (Trevino) (2011-12)

Advisors

Dr. Violeta Vasilevska
Prof. Carolyn Hamilton

Presentations:

Encouraging High School Girls to Study Math (Through Math Girls Rock! Program), Sydney Butler, Kristen Smith, Engagement Week, Orem, UT, March 26, 2014.
Encouraging High School Girls to Study Math (Through Math Girls Rock! Program), Sydney Butler, Kristen Smith, Emily Stucki, NCUWM, Lincoln, NE, January 2014.
Mentoring High School Girls (Through Math Girls Rock! Program), Megan deJager, Kristen Smith, Student Leadership and Mentoring Conference, Orem, UT, May 3, 2013.
Mentoring High School Girls (Through Math Girls Rock! Program), Megan deJager, Kristen Smith, Scholarship of Teaching and Engagement, Orem, UT, March 28, 2013.
Mentoring High School Girls (Through Math Girls Rock! Program), Megan deJager, Kristen Smith, NCUWM, Lincoln, NE, January 2013.
Math Projects that Spark the Interest of High School Girls, Joylin Loveridge, Mary Petersen, Victoria Trevino, Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics (NCUWM), Lincoln, NE, January 2012.

Project Topic
Summer 2012

Student

Victoria Kala (Trevino)

REU

California State University, Fresno, CA

Presentations:

A Survival Analysis of the Duration of Olympic Records, Victoria Kala et al., Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Diego, January 2013.
A Survival Analysis of the Duration of Olympic Records, UVU Physics Colloquium
A Survival Analysis of the Duration of Olympic Records, UVU Math Club meeting.

Publication:

A Survival Analysis of the Duration of Olympic Records, Elliott Hollifield, Victoria Trevino, Adam ZarnarXiv:1207.6133 [stat.AP]

Additional Resources

AMS maintain a website “AMS for students” (link to http://www.ams.org/programs/students/students) that lists news and information about undergraduate students including:

various math programs,
info on graduate schools,
various competitions open to undergraduates,
info on internships, fellowships & jobs,
info on publishing and presenting research.

Scholar’s Open Archive @ UVU

Scholars' Open Archive provides UVU faculty members with a showcase for their research, including articles, preprints, gray literature, presentations, and multimedia.