REU Program at the University of Washington

The University of Washington summer REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program, which has been running since 1988, had another successful summer in 2006. The program has established a national reputation and draws outstanding students from all over the United States. In 2006 there were students from the University of Arizona, University of California at San Diego, University of Chicago, Harvard University, Harvey Mudd University, University of Michigan, University of Oregon, Stanford University, Wheaton College, and four University of Washington students. The students in the program are outstanding. In the academic year 2005-6, alumni won a Rhodes Scholarship, an Astronaut Foundation Fellowship, and two Goldwater Scholarships. Another alumnus is a nominee for a Marshall Fellowship (selection takes place in November, 2006). In addition REU alumni make up the bulk of the Department's stellar Mathematical Contest in Modeling Teams. Jim Morrow, the director of the program, was invited to a meeting of REU directors, sponsored by the AMS and NSA, that was held in Chicago in September, 2006. He has also been selected to serve on the MAA committee on undergraduate research.

The program lasts eight weeks. Students do original research on problems related to the inverse problem in electrical networks. In 2006 students found new results on computational accuracy of recovery algorithms, the first example of a 3-1 correspondence from a network to the response matrix, and new theorems on germs of discrete harmonic functions. Some of the students will present their work at the annual meeting of the AMS-MAA which will be held on January 5-9, 2007 in New Orleans. There were four women and nine men in the program, with one of the women supported by a Bob and Elaine Phelps Fellowship. The TAs are alumni of the program and are graduate students (at UCLA, UW, and MIT) and undergrads at UW. A website, http://www.math.washington.edu/~reu, has detailed information about the program, including an archive of students papers going back to 1988. The current program was awarded funding for 2005-07 by the National Science Foundation. In addition it is supported by the VIGRE grant, individual NSF grants, and Department of Mathematics funds.

Jim Morrow

	Jim Morrow wins another award This spring Jim Morrow was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award of the Pacific Northwest section of the Mathematical Association of America. Congratulations to Jim!
Last year's REU participants: (from top left) Sam Whittle, Ting-You Wang, Ilya Grigoriev, Rohun Khsirsagar, TA Ryan Card, Ming Li, Rachel Bayless, TA Jennifer French, George Tucker, Nathan Pflueger, TA Peter Mannisto, Sandy Durkin, Zack Begalle, Justin Tittlefritz, and TA Mark Blunk. (Other participants, not pictured, were Tim Banham, TA Owen Biesel, and TA Ernie Esser.)