OU hosts national undergraduate research program

Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College, asks students how many have heard that girls can't do well in math and science.

By Laura Angus, media relations assistant

Oakland University is hosting students from across the country to participate in research with faculty as part of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program funded by the National Science Foundation.

The summer program, called Computational and Numerical Statistics and Mathematics, began on May 13 and will run until July 3.

Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College and former OU faculty member in the department of math and statistics, spoke to the participants on May 22 and 23. She is a well-known computer scientist, educator and mathematician.

She spoke on tpoics like gender and computing, and technology for people with disabilities.

The REU program is open to all college students, but preference is given to junior or senior math, statistics or science majors with some computer programming experience and who have not had the opportunity to participate in applied research at their own institutions.

Students from South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, California and Missouri came to OU to participate this program.

Professors Eddie Cheng and Laszlo Liptak are leading research involving interconnected networks. Professor Harvey Qu is leading research on high throughput screening analysis. Medical simulations are being researched, led by Professors Anna Spagnuolo and Fiki Shillor. Professor Tony Shaska is leading students in research related to algebraic curves and automorphism groups. Also, Professor Jack Nachman will lead a course on scientific visualization.