Support and Requirements

Students: Each participating student will receive a $1,900.00 summer stipend along with free housing at Fresno State. Students will also receive $1,000.00 total travel allowance to the summer immersion site and to the Joint Mathematics Meetings. In exchange, students will have to commit to working on the research during the calendar year of 2015, dedicating time the equivalent of one course to continuing research in the fall of 2015 at their home institution. It is expected that students present their completed (or reasonably complete) research at a session dedicated to undergraduate research projects at the JMM either as a talk or as a poster. It is also expected that students submit a journal quality final written report to the FURST program. These reports will be made available on the FURST website either as a document or as a link to the paper on arxiv.org in compliance with any and all restrictions the publication of said work may entail. 

Faculty: FURST faculty will join CURM faculty in an early summer workshop on undergraduate student mentoring, the expenses of which will be covered by the program. In addition, the home institution of each FURST team will receive an allocation of $9,850.00 which is to be used as follows:

(i)  $6,000.00 towards a one course buy-out for the faculty member in the fall semester of 2015

(ii)  $3,350.00 for summer stipend for the faculty member, and

(iii)  $500.00 housing allowance for the faculty member to help offset the cost of subsistence at the summer immersion site.

Home institutions of FURST teams will not be allowed to charge any indirect costs related to this allocation. In addition, as part of the application process the FURST faculty member will have to submit a letter of commitment from his/her chair/dean/provost stating that the faculty member will receive a full course buyout in exchange for the $6,000.00 allocation earmarked for this purpose.

FURST encourages all faculty applicants to attend workshops on mentoring undergraduate students in mathematics research. In addition we encourage faculty to make use of any and all professional networks and ongoing programs (such as Project NEXT, CUR, CURM, REUF, the REU leadership group etc.) in seeking advice and assistance in getting involved with undergraduate research. It is expected that FURST faculty will accompany their students to the joint meetings in Seattle, WA, January 6-9, 2016 and participate in a evaluative discussion/dinner reflecting on their experience with the FURST program at the JMM.