About the Research

This is an collection of Answers to Frequently Asked Questions for the UC Davis Math Dept.

• How do I get involved in undergraduate research?
• What do former REU students have to say about it?
• What is the deadline to apply for the VIGRE REU Program and where can I receive an application?
• Where can I find information about possible research projects or past research projects?

Most students begin participating in undergraduate research in their junior or senior year. However, some students start as early as their freshman year. Remember, you do not have to be a math major to participate in the REU program of the mathematics department. In fact, we have had many computer science and physics majors in the past. Furthermore, you do not have to be a student at UC Davis.

The most important thing is to find an undergraduate research mentor, a faculty member who will supervise and guide your work. Finding this person may be based on an experience you had in a course, through the recommendation of another student, or sometimes with the help of the Department's Undergraduate Research Adviser. The undergraduate research coordinators are faculty members who have agreed to help students with all details related to an REU. Their responsibilities include helping students on finding a mentor, selecting students for available fellowships, and advertising other REU programs and fellowships.

It may take time to find a mentor. For example, the professor of your choice may not have an opening in their research project or some faculty may require that you have completed certain courses as preparation for participating in their research. It is generally a good idea to arrange a position for REU research at least one quarter ahead of when you actually want to begin the project.

In addition, there are many other REU programs outside of UC Davis. For example, the National Security Agency supports competitive fellowships to be part of a program of mathematical research. Contact the Department's Undergraduate Research Adviser to receive more information about these programs.

"In order to begin our project, we first had to learn about our subject. During the first phase of our project we read textbooks, articles, and research papers in order to learn the basic principles and mechanics of protein folding. During the second phase of the project we had to find a way to sift through the Protein Data Bank (PDB) in order to find the proteins which contained structural anomalies of helices for us to analyze. Our programmer then created a program that would allow us to search for proteins that contained a given pentamer (five amino acid) or hexamer (six amino acid) sequence. Once found, the program was rewritten so that it could take the proteins found, and sift through them to find out which of them contained the sequence, but did not form a helix. These were the proteins that our group analyzed during phase 3; we looked at each protein individually and made conjectures as to why the sequence did not form a helix, and wrote a report for each of about 40 proteins total."

"The REU experience allowed us to acquire a familiarity with many fundamental concepts of algebraic topology as well as to touch on related topics that interested us along the way. It was a pleasant and rewarding experience, and it has broadened our horizons in terms of future pursuits in mathematics."

"From his [the mentor's] talks I learned how his understanding of physics helped him to gain a broader and deeper understanding of the mathematics involved. This relationship between physics and math has proven to be extremely useful in doing computational fluid dynamics, and is now a guiding principle in my class choices. I feel that I not only learned about the different graduate projects and mathematical methods that were being investigated, but I also learned what skills I would need to build my own."

"When we have group meetings, I feel that I can always ask questions and they will be answered to the fullest extent. This has given me a preview of what I will need to be able to do in years to come so as to be a successful graduate student. Thank you for this opportunity, and I look forward to continuing my undergraduate research here at UC Davis."

"We met with [our mentor] on Mondays at about 6:30 for about an hour. Typically during our meetings, we talked about our progress and any new ideas we had come up with over the course of the week. He would ask questions for clarification as we talked. Then, he would explain to us his thoughts about our progress and our ideas. Usually, he gave us advice on what to look for, people to get ideas from, and people to talk to for more information on the subject."

The most current information for applying to the VIGRE Research Experiences for Undergraduates program is available on the How to Apply web page.

Topics of research are as varied as our faculty. Every year the department has VIGRE sponsored Research Focused Groups (RFGs). These are groups of faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduates that interact via seminars or reading groups toward better understanding a concrete topic in mathematics. The RFG topics change every year, but they have included themes such as Combinatorics, Mathematical Physics, Mathematical Biology, Optimization and Control Theory.

To further understand the scope of topics that are available for exploration, take a look at a few of our sample research areas.