Our group centrally involves undergraduate students in ongoing projects. We also provide other activities that offer excellent opportunities for undergraduate students to apply their skills to real-world problems. Interested students are encouraged to ask faculty they are interested in working with about current opportunities.

Requirements

In order to be successful, students need a strong background and interest in computational and applied mathematics and be able to commit substantial time to the research project. A critical requirement for most projects is a strong background in numerical analysis and strong programming skills as offered, e.g., in Emory’s course MATH 315. Students should also bring a lot of curiosity and enthusiasm to learn and work independently. Depending on the project, other courses or technical skills will be needed.

Getting Started

Students that are curious in getting research experience in scientific computing can find information about current projects. It is recommended to reach out directly to the faculty member associated with projects of interest. Students are also encouraged to attend our group’s weekly seminar.

Expectations from Undergraduate Researchers

We expect the students we advise to create new knowledge leading to scholarship in the form of a final thesis, poster presentations, talks, and publications.

A few recent examples of peer-reviewed papers that originated from undergraduate work are:

• Hart, E., Buser, E. and Huenemann, B. Comparison of Atlas-Based and Neural-Network-Based Semantic Segmentation for DENSE MRI Images. SIAM Undergraduate Research Online, 15, May 26, 2022.
• Ding, P.: Accelerated Alternating Minimization for X-ray Tomographic Reconstruction. SIAM Undergraduate Research Online, 15, April 27, 2022.
• Pham-Huynh, M.P. and Santana, M.: Alternating Minimization for Computed Tomography with Unknown Geometry Parameters. SIAM Undergraduate Research Online, 15, April 1, 2022.
• Zheng, J., Keegan, K. and Melendez, D.: Media Processing and A Modified Watermarking Scheme Based on the Singular Value Decomposition. SIAM Undergraduate Research Online, 14, September 23, 2021.
• Stewart, H., Johnston, Sun, M. and Zhang, D.: SIR Model of Time Dependent Drug and Vaccine Distribution on COVID-19 . SIAM Undergraduate Research Online, 14, May 11, 2021.
• Ramos E., Rexer E., Saran I.: A Monetary Evaluation of Ecosystem Services, UMAP Journal on Undergraduate Mathematics and Its Applications, 2019. This paper was selected as one of the top papers in ICM 2019 and awarded the status of outstanding winners (top 8 out of 4,852 submissions)
• Garvey C., Meng C., Nagy J.: Singular Value Decomposition Approximation via Kronecker Summations for Imaging Applications. SIAM Journal on Matrix Analysis and Applications, to appear, accepted for publication in October 2018.
• Lin C Y, Veneziani A, Ruthotto L: Numerical Methods for Polyline-to-Point-Cloud Registration with Applications to Patient-Specific Stent Reconstruction, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering, 34(3) 2017
• Platero R., Least Squares Updating for Kronecker Products. Received Outstanding Student Research Presentation Award at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS).

Undergraduate Research Activities at Emory

The Department of Mathematics and our group offer various ways for undergraduate students to participate in research projects.

• REU/RET Site Computational Mathematics for Data Science: Our NSF-funded REU/RET site offers exciting opportunities for summer research at Emory University. Under a common theme that changes every summer, the site hosts several teams who develop innovative mathematical solutions that help process, analyze, and generate data sets. The participants are mentored by leading experts within the scientific computing group.
• Emory University MatheMatics Association (EUMMA): EUMMA is a social organization for students at Emory with an interest in mathematics. There are roughly two events each month, both academic and social gathering. The association hosts lectures by faculty, panel discussions on topics including applying to graduate schools, internship and other opportunities, as well occasional events such as game nights, outdoor games and movie screenings. While many of our members are either math majors or minors, this is certainly not a requirement; we invite and encourage anyone with an interest in mathematics to come to our meetings and join in on our activities. Join our Facebook Page
• Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM): We advise and sponsor teams for this intense four-day challenge. Students work in teams of up to three on difficult, open-ended problems that are inspired by real-life challenges. The contest takes place early in the spring semester but students should watch out for info sessions in the fall semester and contact a Comptuatinal Math Faculty member if you are interested in more information.
• Emory The Scholarly Inquiry and Research Experience (SIRE) Program: Rising second and third year students at Emory who are interested in research should consider applying for this program. The program includes a weekly class SIRE 299 and other activities that prepare students for working on research projects.
• Emory Honors Program: This program is by invitation only and requires students to complete and defend a research thesis and take a graduate-level class while maintaining a high GPA. Nominations are made in the spring of junior year and interested students are encouraged to speak to faculty members ahead of time.
• Emory Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE). Emory students are encouraged to apply. Applications for the SURE program are reviewed in the spring semester and interested student should identify and talk to a faculty mentor about their project plan ahead of time. The SURE program allows students to work on their project during the summer at the end of which they will present their progress in a poster symposium. Participants receive a stipend and housing support.

Research Opportunities at Other Institutions

We are glad to help students find research opportunities (e.g., NSF REUs) at other institutions. Here are a few places to look:

• Research in Undustrial Programs for Students (RIPS), Los Angeles
• Research in Undustrial Programs for Students (RIPS), Singapore.
• Summer@ICERM More programs can be found at https://www.mathprograms.org/db.

Placement

Many of our honors students and other undergraduate students involved in research projects have continued their research careers by entering top-level graduate programs, including at Rice University, UCLA, Stanford U, UIUC, University of Texas, Michigan U, Duke U, University of Maryland, Cornell.