In the GUMS/SUMC Mentorship Program, undergraduate students are paired with a graduate student mentor who guides them through readings or a project.

Fall 2026 Mentors

Srijan Khatri

Obláth's problem is to find all perfect powers whose digits are all the same - named 'repdigits'. We consider a similar problem of finding all perfect squares whose all digits, except one, are the same - named 'almost repdigits'. The problem is solved in base-10 digits.

In this project, a student would attempt to find out the perfect square almost repdigits in bases other than 10, such as 3, 5, 6, and 7. This will involve studying the solution of the base-10 problem, finding conditions on possible squares using modular congruences and computing data to possibly make conjectures.

Vincent Macri

My research interests include computational number theory, with a focus on finite fields and curves. The specific project will be decided with the student. Possible projects include math software implementation, contributing to an open-source mathematics package such as SageMath, or experimenting with conjecture testing.

Angela Morrison

My research interests span optimization, graph theory, and mathematical programming. Below are a few different project ideas I had in mind. If you are interested in the type of research I do, but had a different project idea, feel free to drop by my office to talk about if I would down to work on something else! You can find me in MS 464.

Project Ideas:

• Work through some machine learning jupyter notebooks

• Replicate a chapter of the Opt Art book

• Study of March Madness bracket strategies

• “Optimal” music playlist transitions

• Snow plow/garbage truck routing

• Redistricting for voting districts (similar to a study of gerrymandering)

André Rickes

My research interests include real and functional analysis, theoretical and numerical partial differential equations, and mathematical biology.

In this project, we will explore one of these areas by studying a research paper or a book and developing numerical simulations to illustrate and deepen our understanding of the concepts presented.

Ethan Saunders

My research interests include graph theory (especially edge colouring), discrete math, combinatorics, combinatorial game theory, and complexity theory.