Undergraduate US citizens who expect to graduate AFTER July 26, 2024, and especially such students attending university in the Appalachian region apply for the DCAA REU. Our projects center around probability and data analysis, as well as linear algebra and combinatorics (see descriptions below). Our research mentors have considerable experience mentoring undergraduate research projects.
Fairmont sits at the epicenter of West Virginia's "High Tech Corridor" and Fairmont itself is home to the I-79 Technology park, which houses NASA's Independent Verification and Validation facility, a NOAA supercomputer lab, and numerous other high-tech government contractors and businesses. West Virginia University, an R1 research institution, is 25 minutes to the north in Morgantown, which is also home to a number of high-tech businesses. The FBI's Criminal Justice Information Systems building is 20 minutes to the south in Clarksburg. Local infrastructure exists to facilitate travel for participants without cars. There is a bus service in Fairmont that runs six days a week; rates for this service are affordable and includes routes to local recreation, shopping, and dining locations in Fairmont as well as the nearby cities of Clarksburg, Bridgeport, and Morgantown. Those respective cities also have their own transit authorities with comparable services. Fairmont also hosts a Greyhound bus station for travel to more distant locations.
The city of Fairmont is located in the heart of Appalachia, about 90 minutes south of Pittsburgh (which is the closest major airport.) DCAA student researchers often self-organize hiking trips in the nearby Appalachian mountains.
As per NSF rules, participants funded by DCAA must be US Citizens or Permanent Residents of the United States who have not yet received their bachelor’s degree during the program (if you graduate in Spring 2024, then you are unfortunately not eligible to participate). Students who are women, underrepresented minorities, first-generation college students, and those whose home institution have limited research opportunities in mathematics are encouraged to apply. During the REU, participants are expected to work on research and related activities full time (40 hours a week)! The ideal applicant will have met the suggested project prerequisites listed in the project descriptions above, but we will entertain applicants with any typical "sophomore-level or higher" mathematical background.
If you are accepted into the program, then we will have to verify your citizenship status in order for you to receive funding. Expect to provide a copy of a birth certificate or passport (or other document verifying citizenship) for verification!
