Department of Mathematics

MSU NREUP Schedule

National Research Experience for Undergraduates Program: May 12, 2014 - June 20, 2014

Acknowledgment: This program is an MAA activity funded by NSF grants DMS-1156582 and DMS-1359016.

L Date Topic  Discussion  Comment
5/12 Mathematical Models. General ideas of simplified models. Exponential growth vs linear growth, population dynamics. Logistic model.

Afternoon: LaTeX - install on students' laptops
See e-mailed file.
External evaluation forms (15 min)

9:30 - safety instructions

Daily journal


5/13 Introduction to ODEs and Systems of ODEs. Phase Portraits. Modeling Predator-Prey and competing species.

SIR models. Further discussion on mathematical modeling.

Study stable and unstable equilibrium. 

Afternoon: Mathematica
Download the following Mathematica Lab. Have students create models for 3 or more species - 2 competing prey, 1 predator and vice versa.

You can refer to the following e-mailed introduction to Mathematica.


Daily journal
 3   5/14 Morning: Presentation workshop (How not to give a presentation)

Afternoon: Introduction to Probability. 
Study ordinary differential equations vs stochastic differential equations. 

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5/15 Morning: Continuation of ODE vs SDE. Master equations for probability model.

Afternoon: Lecture on numerical methods for ODEs (Aditya Viswanathan)
Two hours free time to prepare for a mini presentation on Friday : A system of three species.  Daily journal
5/16 Morning: Lab on numerical methods for ODEs - Matlab (Aditya Viswanathan)

Afternoon: Mini Presentations (5-10 min)
Work on weekly report Daily journal





5/19 Morning: 1. Dimensional Analysis. Non-dimensionalizing an equation. 
2. One species - SDE model: Derivation of Kolmogorov forward equation.
3. Review Euler method. 

Afternoon: Numerical simulations for stochastic differential equations with Matlab.



Weekly report
5/20 Morning:  Phase plane analysis for a system - theory.

Afternoon: Experiments with Mathematica on phase plane analysis
Notes on Phase Plane Analysis

Reading assignment: references
Daily journal- teams of 2
Aaron + Asia
Jamilia + Tai
Cheyenne + Oz
5/21 Morning: Searching for references, citations.

Afternoon: Literature Reviews.
Reading assignment: references Daily journal - teams of 2
Cheyenne + Tai
Aaron + Jamilia
Oz + Asia

5/22 Morning: Discussion of papers.

Afternoon: Two hours free time to prepare for a mini presentation: Give a presentation on the main results from one of the references.

Daily journal - teams of 2
Aaron + Oz
Tai + Asia
Jamilia + Cheyenne
10  5/23 Morning:
(9:30-11:00) Preparation for a presentation.
(11:00-12:00) Mini Presentations (5-10 min)

Afternoon: Learning probability, graph theory and game strategies through board games.
Tentatively choose a project: Cancer modeling or Competition of car manufacturers. Daily journal - teams of 2
Tai + Aaron
Oz + Jamilia
Asia + Cheyenne





 11   5/26 Memorial Day
University closed.  No meeting
12  5/27 Special workshop 10:00-11:00 am Effective Presenting
11:00-noon Personal Statement Writing
2:00-3:30 pm Abstract Writing (Rescheduled)

All presentations will be in 1200 Molecular Plant Sciences
Weekly report
13  5/28 Morning: Team Brainstorming. 
(State the main assumptions for your model: Construct a simple initial deterministic model.)

Afternoon: Numerical simulations for your initial model. 

Daily journal
14  5/29 Morning: Analysis of your simple initial model. 

Afternoon: Prepare for a mini presentation on Friday. 
Cancer Model Team: 
1. Motivation and Assumptions (No formulas): Cheyenne. 
2. Notations and 1 patch model: Aaron.
3. 2 patch model: Jamilia
4. Current results and future work: Asia. 

Competing Car Companies Team: 
1. Motivation and assumptions, Notation and price-only model: Tai.
2. Analysis of a price-only model; price and R&D model: Oz.
An extra room is reserved in Room A-330, Wells Hall from May 29 to June 13.

Daily journal
15  5/30 Morning: 9:30-10:30 Prepare for mini Presentations (5-10 min)
10:30-12:00 Presentations

Afternoon: Numerical experiments and work on weekly report.
One weekly report per team: Write an initial draft of your paper. 


Daily journal





16  6/2 Morning: Team project research.

Afternoon: Team reports and work on your paper. 
6:30-7:30pm Abstract Writing workshop which will be in 1200 Molecular Plant Sciences. Weekly report
17  6/3 Morning: Team project research.

Afternoon: Team reports and work on your paper. 

Daily journal
18  6/4 Morning: Team project research. Merge the work by all team members in the same file, which will give us the basis of a paper.

Afternoon: Team reports and work on your paper. 
Cancer modeling team: Asia and Cheyenne are working on noise effect with Matlab in the afternoon. Aaron and Jamilia add figures with detail explanations to the main paper. 

Competing car companies team: Numerical experiments for the deterministic dynamics in the afternoon. 
Daily journal
19  6/5 Morning: Team project research.

Afternoon: Prepare for team presentation on Friday.

Daily journal
20  6/6 Morning: Team project research.

Lunch: 11:00am-1:00pm

Afternoon (1:00pm-3:00pm) :Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training Workshop with Dr. Shobha Ramanand in the basement of West Holmes Hall in room W25E, the Dean's Seminar Room.


Daily journal





21  6/9 Morning: Team project research.

Afternoon: Team reports and work on your paper. By the end of the day you should have the abstract of your paper ready (100-150 words). 
Registration for MID-SURE (07/23 1:00-4:00 pm - Breslin Center) opens
http://urca.msu.edu/midsure
Daily journal
22  6/10 Morning: Team project research.

Lunch: (SROP activity) "Networking Lunch with MSU graduate students" (multi disciplinary) in BPS at 11:30am

Afternoon: Team reports and work on your paper. By the end of the day you should have an introduction ready (about 1 page).

Daily journal
23  6/11 Morning: Team project research.

Afternoon: Team reports and work on your paper. By the end of the day you should have a complete description of your model including analysis

Daily journal
24  6/12 Morning: Team project research.

Afternoon: Team reports and Prepare for team presentation on Friday. 

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25  6/13 Morning: 9:30 am in Holmes Hall: Team Presentations (10-15 min)

Afternoon: Complete a draft of the discussion in conclusion sections of your paper.
9:30am : Joint presentation with SURIEM in the basement of West Holmes Hall in room W25E, the Dean's Seminar Room.





26  6/16 Morning: Team project research.

Afternoon: Team reports and work on your poster. 
Applications of Young mathematician conference open in June 16 and a deadline is July 21. 


Mini paper draft DUE

An extra room is reserved in Room A-303, Wells Hall from June 16 to June 18 in the morning.
27  6/17 Morning: Work on your poster.

Afternoon: Team reports and work on your paper. 
Submit abstracts to MID-SURE conference.
Incorporate reviewer comments on paper and poster
28  6/18 Morning: Team project research.

Afternoon: Team reports and work on your paper. 
Poster draft DUE

Submit a final paper and poster for review
In the afternoon (2:00 to 4:30), our classrooms are changed (A336 and A322). 

Incorporate reviewer comments on paper and poster
29  6/19 Morning: Team project research.

Afternoon: Team reports and work on your paper. 

Our classrooms are changed (A124, A232, and A234)

Final paper and poster DUE
30  6/20 Final Team Presentations

Our classrooms are changed (A132 and A106 (no Wi-Fi coverage for this room))