Univeristy of Nebraska-Lincoln

Department of Mathematics

The Nebraska Mentoring through Critical Transition Points (MCTP) program

This program targets two critical transition periods in the preparation of mathematicians: the transition from the undergraduate to the graduate level, and the transition from the advanced graduate level to the early years of an academic position. At both of these transition periods, the program focuses on interactions between non-PhD granting colleges and universities (referred to as "four-year colleges" for simplicity) and PhD-granting research universities. The program will benefit students at UNL as well as developing mathematicians in the larger mathematical community. The components of the Nebraska MCTP Program are as follows:

Nebraska IMMERSE (Intensive Mathematics: a Mentoring, Education, and Research Summer Experience)

Nebraska IMMERSE simultaneously provides a "bridge" program for the summer between undergraduate school and graduate school, an enrichment experience for current UNL graduate students, and an opportunity for faculty in the early years of a professional academic position to receive significant mentoring with regard to both research and teaching---a sort of miniature postdoc position. More information about this aspect of the program is provided below.

Undergraduate MCTP Scholarships

The Undergraduate MCTP Scholars program is for juniors and seniors majoring in mathematics at UNL.

Regional Workshop in the Mathematical Sciences

This 2-day workshop is aimed at students and faculty at colleges and universities within driving distance of UNL.

Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics (NCUWM)

This weekend conference draws participants from across the country and gives outstanding undergraduate women the opportunity to discuss their own research and to meet other women who share their interest in the mathematical sciences.

First-Year MCTP Graduate Traineeships

These traineeships provide a stipend of $22,500 and guide students through the first year of the mathematics graduate program at the University of Nebraska.

Advanced MCTP Graduate Traineeships

These traineeships provide a stipend of $22,500 and guide fourth- and fifth-year mathematics graduate students at the University of Nebraska through the process of preparing for a first job after graduate school while also giving participants time away from teaching during which they can concentrate on finishing their dissertations.

Keep Research Alive (KRA) Workshop

This workshop is held each summer and enables UNL PhD alumni who are now early-career faculty at four-year colleges to return to UNL for three weeks of intensive research collaboration.

Nebraska Intensive Mathematics: a Mentoring, Education and Research Summer Experience (Nebraska IMMERSE)

Overview of the Program

Nebraska IMMERSE is the centerpiece of the Department's MCTP program. IMMERSE has two interweaving components: one that strengthens the preparation of students who are about to enter their first year of graduate study in mathematics (these students are referred to as "pre-grads"), and one that develops the teaching, research, and mentoring skills of graduate students and early-career faculty. For the pre-grads, the summer program last six weeks, beginning roughly the last week of June. For the graduate students and early-career faculty, the program will begin two weeks earlier. The IMMERSE participants can be grouped as follows:

16 pre-grads: These are students who will be starting graduate school in mathematics, either at UNL or elsewhere, the following fall. Pre-grad participants will receive room, board, a travel allowance, and a $3000 stipend.

6 UNL graduate students: Three of these students will have just finished their first year of graduate school while the other three will be beginning their final year of graduate study. These six students are the recipients of the MCTP Graduate Traineeships.

4 Early-career faculty: These are faculty members at four-year colleges who are not yet tenured and who have earned their PhDs within the past 6 years. These participants will receive room, board, a travel allowance, and a $10,000 stipend. In addition, $7500 will be given to their home institutions for release time from teaching in the spring semester to work on research and to prepare for their IMMERSE courses.

Structure of IMMERSE

Mentoring at Nebraska IMMERSE will be very much vertically integrated: the early career faculty will be mentored by senior UNL faculty, the graduate students will be mentored by each other and the early-career faculty, and the pre-grads will be mentored by the early-career faculty and the graduate students.

For the pre-grads, the main component of the program consists of two intensive courses: one in algebra and one in analysis. The courses will be at the advanced undergraduate/beginning graduate level. However, rather than working through a textbook, the courses will be structured around the reading of research papers. The IMMERSE course coordinators (two UNL faculty) will select papers that use as tools some of the topics which typically appear in first-year graduate algebra and analysis courses, and then structure the IMMERSE courses around the material of the papers. Each course is team-taught by a pair of early-career faculty, with a mixed group of three first-year and advanced graduate students serving as teaching assistants. There will also be several special presentations/colloquiums/workshops throughout the six weeks, which will provide additional forums for exploring issues the pre-grads are likely to face as they begin graduate school. We will have at least three guest speakers, each of whom will give an overview of current research topics in his/her mathematical area.

As stated above, the program for the graduate students and early-career faculty will begin two weeks prior to the start of the IMMERSE courses. At the time of their arrival, the early-career faculty and graduate students will work with the course coordinators to finalize their plans for the six-week courses. Additionally, each early-career faculty participant will have a research mentor in the form of a senior UNL faculty member. Over the course of the eight weeks, the early career faculty will work with their research mentors to identify and begin work on a joint research project. The collaboration is expected to carry over into the next academic year via email and research visits. (An additional travel allowance for this purpose is given to the early-career faculty participants.)