Undergraduate research projects and independent studies are excellent additional preparation for graduate school or working in teams in your future career. They are a fun way to see mathematics outside of the ordinary undergraduate course catalog and to hone your mathematical thinking, writing, and presentation skills. Projects like this often lead to presentations at the MCS Poster Presentations, MSU Denver Undergraduate Research Conference, statewide conferences like Pikes Peak, or even nation-wide conferences like Mathfest or JMM. Some even lead to publications!
Official REUs (Research Experience for Undergraduates) at other universities are a prestigious and extremely worthwhile undertaking during the summer, but you can also take part in research projects with faculty (like me!) right here at MSU Denver during the semester.
This Semester:
During Summer 2022, I am working with undergraduate student Brian Moore on a research project on the relationship between defect groups and the behavior of characters under Galois automorphisms, am continuing a similar project with former student Frank Pryor, and began another related project with Colin Downs, Sam Han, and Frank Pryor.
Intrigued???
If you are an MSU Denver undergraduate student interested in doing a research project or independent study, I would love to work with you! Send me an email or stop by my office to chat.
I often run a course on representation theory that can lead to a (paid!) research project. (The prereqs for this would be Abstract Algebra 1 and Linear Algebra). But, if that doesn’t interest you or you don’t have the prereqs, I am definitely open to helping you look into other projects.
Here is what I’ve done in the past with undergraduates:
| Term | Students | Project | Extra Outcomes |
| Summer 2022 | Colin Downs; Sam Han; Frank Pryor | Research Project: Galois-Equivariant Blockwise McKay Bijections for Sp(4,2^a) | |
| Spring 2022-Summer 2022 | Brian Moore | Research Project: Galois Automorphisms, Defect Groups, and Characters III | presentation at MSU Denver’s Undergrad Research Conference |
| Spring 2022 | Colin Downs; Sam Han | Independent Study: Representations of Finite Groups | |
| Fall 2021 | Brian Moore | Independent Study: Representations of Finite Groups | |
| Spring 2021-Summer 2022 | Andrew Peña; Frank Pryor | Research Project: Galois Automorphisms, Defect Groups, and Characters II | presentation at MSU Denver’s Undergrad Research Conference; presentation at JMM; paper submitted for publication! |
| Fall 2020 | Andrew Peña; Frank Pryor | Independent Study: Representations of Finite Groups | |
| Fall 2020-Spring 2021 | Courtney Fleming; Joseph Ruiz | Continued Research Project: Galois Automorphisms, Defect Groups, and Characters | presentation at 2021 Rocky Mountain MAA Sectional Meeting |
| Spring 2020 | Courtney Fleming; Leland Minaker; Joseph Ruiz; Gabe Vigil | Independent Study: Investigations in Category Theory | poster at MSU Denver Undergrad Research Conference |
| Spring 2020 | Courtney Fleming; Leland Minaker; Joseph Ruiz; Alex Tusa; Gabe Vigil | Research Project: Galois Automorphisms, Defect Groups, and Characters | presentation at MSU Denver’s Undergrad Research Conference |
| Fall 2019 | Courtney Fleming; Leland Minaker; Joseph Ruiz; Alex Tusa; Gabe Vigil | Independent Study: Representations of Finite Groups | |
| Spring 2019 | Courtney Fleming; Keegan Karbach | Independent Study: Representation Theory in Physics | Poster at MSU Denver’s Undergrad Research Conference |
| Spring 2019 | Brittany Bianco; Elizabeth Foster | Research Project: Automorphisms and Characters of Finite Groups | Presentations at Nebraska Conf for Undergrad Women in Math 2019; Pikes Peak 2019; MSU Denver’s Undergrad Research Conference; and MAA Mathfest 2019 in Cincinnati |
| Fall 2018 | Brittany Bianco; Elizabeth Foster | Independent Study: Representations of Finite Groups | |
| Summer 2017-Fall 2017 | Kempton Albee; Eric Roon | Research Project: Irreducible Character Restrictions | Paper published; presentation at MAA Mathfest 2017, Chicago (winners of MAA “Outstanding Presentation” award!) |
| Spring 2017 | Kempton Albee; Eric Roon | Independent Study: Representations of Finite Groups | |
| Fall 2016 – Spring 2017 | Mike Barnes; Aaron Parker | Research Project: Irreducible Character Restrictions | Paper published; presentations at Pikes Peak 2017 and MSU Denver’s Undergrad Research Conference |
| Fall 2016 | Devon Bata; Jacquelyn Combellick; Jacob Wiley | Independent Study: Representations of Finite Groups | |
| Spring 2016 | Mike Barnes; Matt Lum; Aaron Parker | Independent Study: Representations of Finite Groups | |
| Spring 2016 | Eric Roon | Research Project: Permutation Groups in Music Theory | Paper published; presentation at MSU Denver’s Undergrad Research Conference |
| Fall 2015 | Ethan Johnston; Greg Mah | Independent Study: Cryptography and Coding Theory | |
| Spring 2015 | Isabel Corona; Bryan Curtis; Maggie Gourlay; Ethan Kowalenko; Alex Myers | Independent Study: Representations of Finite Groups |