The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) and the Department of Mathematics at Lamar University (LU) is inviting applications from undergraduate students to apply for the 10-week research and academic experience.  Students at this site will be engaged in research involving big data analytics, data dimension reduction, matrix factorization and graph theory.  LU REU is designed to prepare motivated college students for graduate studies in the mathematics and statistics.

Number of Awards: 8

Disciplines: Mathematics and Statistics

Eligibility: Undergraduate students enrolled in the Fall 2019 semester as an undergraduate student.  Minimum 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA and 3.5 or higher GPA within a discipline.   

Application Deadline: February 28, 2020

Award Notification: By April 15, 2020

Benefit for Selected Students:

• Certificate of recognition for completing the Stat REU program
• Free housing during the summer at Cardinal Village.
• Meal plan is included.
• Recognition as LU REU Alumni (name, picture and report will be available on OUR website).

 Student Stipend: $5,000 ($500 per week)

• A PowerPoint/Beamer presentation (poster or oral presentation slides) for display on the OUR website.
• Final research report (length and format to be determined)
• Completion of a research survey for continuous development of Stat REU program.

Attendance/Expectations: Awardees expectations are as follows:

• Attend the LU REU orientation
• Attend OUR sponsored lectures, seminars and other workshops during the summer session
• Stat REU fellows will acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation in all publications and/or presentations resulting from the project.

Review Guidelines: The REU PI and co-PIs will select students for the program.

Both intellectual merit and the broader impacts criteria are important elements in the selection of the applicants: the intellectual merit criterion includes motivation, excellence in courses taken, personal statements, and strength of the letters of recommendation; and the broader impacts criterion strongly encourages diversity and enables the participation of underrepresented groups (women, minorities and veteran students), and broadens opportunities and involves students who might not otherwise have the opportunity, particularly those from institutions where research programs are limited.

Application Requirements: 

• LU REU online applications
• Unofficial college transcript
• Two letters of recommendation from faculty advisers
• A personal statement explaining your background, research interests & career goals.

Submit all four items electronically with the online applications. The deadline for submission of application is 5 p.m., February 28, 2020.