The Knox Math Lab administers undergraduate research projects each fall and spring semester. Undergraduate students work in small teams under the mentorship of a graduate student and a faculty member on a project in an active field of mathematics. By participating in projects, students gain research, presentation, and often coding and quantitative skills that make them well-rounded learners and attractive candidates to potential employers. Graduate students also have the chance to hone the aforementioned skills in addition to gaining mentoring experience, which is an essential element to many career paths.
A typical KML team consists of a faculty mentor, who proposes the project, a graduate student, and 2–5 undergraduate students. The frequency of meetings will be determined by the faculty mentor; typically the full team meets every few weeks, while the undergraduate and graduate students meet more often (usually once or twice per week). There are certain deliverables to be produced, such as a mid-semester presentation, a poster to be presented during during the last week of classes, and a final report (usually due a week after the final exams end).
To participate in KML research projects, undergraduate students must register for course credit (the 1-3 credit course MATH 490) and commit 5-10 hours/week to their project. All participants must be able to fit this course into their schedule.
All majors are welcome to apply to KML. The minimum requirements for participation are determined by the faculty mentors and they vary across projects.
Applications are usually open for a week, approximately 2-3 weeks before the semester begins.
A graduate mentor of the KML typically works in a group consisting of one faculty mentor and 2-5 undergraduate students. The graduate student serves as a team leader and is responsible for supervising progress on the project, providing both mathematical and technical support to the undergraduate student members, and ensuring the group meets the deadlines for the deliverables described above (slides for the talk, poster, and final report). Applications open 2-3 weeks before the semester begins and stay open for a week. Information is sent to Math Department graduate students each semester through the departmental email list.
The Knox Math Lab facilitates in-semester vertically integrated research projects. Undergraduate students work in teams under the supervision of graduate student mentors on projects designed by faculty members and postdocs.
The frequency of meetings will be determined by the faculty mentor, but typically the full team meets every few weeks, while the undergraduate and graduate students meet more often (usually once or twice per week). Each undergraduate participant is expected to contribute 10 hours per week to the project.
For each project, a three credit-hours MATH 490 section is generated and KML students are required to enroll in this section. The setup will be handled by KML administration (Director and Manager). As a faculty mentor, you will just need to submit letter grades at the end of the semester through email.
Projects run in either the fall or spring semester. While projects are accepted throughout the year, we ask that faculty member submit any proposals at least 4 weeks before the semester begins. Faculty can submit projects by emailing the KML Director and/or Manager, including a project title, description, level of difficulty, meeting frequency, pre-requisites and other special requests.