Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists

The Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists (PROMYS) (pronounced "promise") is a six-week residential summer math program for high school students. The program is directed by Glenn H. Stevens[1] Professor of Mathematics at Boston University, who founded PROMYS in 1989.[2][3] PROMYS is an intensive and immersive math experience for math-loving students who want to tackle fundamental mathematical problems in a deeply rigorous way. PROMYS prides itself on building a collaborative mathematical community which maintains long-term social and intellectual ties.[2][3][4]

The program is open to high school students, although college students and above participate as counselors (one for every 3 or 4 students).[3] There is also a segment of the program aimed at high school teachers. Each year, there are roughly 60 first year students and 20 returning students, in addition to the undergraduate counselors and visiting mathematicians. The program centers around the very challenging problem sets assigned every weekday (with an extra long problem set on the weekend) and a daily number theory lecture from Professor Stevens, which is mandatory for everyone. First-year students are typically also involved in an Exploration Lab, an open-ended problem in number theory or a closely related area of math that is accessible to first-year students. Exploration Lab topics have included relationships between Pick's theorem and the Euler characteristic, linear fractional transformations, Linear Diophantine equations, integer partitions and compositions, finite differences, and Chebyshev polynomials.

Returning students, some of whom are attending the program for the third or fourth time, take advanced courses sponsored by the Clay Mathematics Institute and participate in a Research Lab, although all courses and labs are open to all students. Advanced courses are taught by professors at Boston University and other schools, including Brandeis University and Syracuse University. In addition, there are minicourses, seminars, and guest lectures on a wide variety of mathematical topics.[5] The counselors hold informal seminars on various topics, such as the p-adic number system. Some nights a guest lecture is organized during which mathematicians and people working in math-related subjects such as Wolfram Group lecture on what they find interesting and worth sharing.[3][6] Many of the PROMYS alumni enter academia.

Student research topics have included Ducci sequences (also known as the n-numbers game), dragon curves, arithmetrees, and tropical algebraic geometry.[7] In 2008 the advanced courses featured Galois theory, representation theory of finite groups, and geometry. Through dealing with a usually intuitive subject with mathematical rigor, the geometry course exposes its students to many areas of mathematics, including set theory, algebra, and non-Euclidean geometry. The 2013 advanced courses were in Wavelet Transformations, Geometry and Symmetry, and Representations of Finite Groups.[7] Every Friday night, the counselors organize "an event so fun that it is necessary and sufficient," hence the name "mandatory fun." These events include a picnic, a talent show, animation night, a "dance," and an ice cream social. Often during the weekends, students participate in games of Egyptian Rat Screw, Illuminati, or Mafia sometimes lasting entire nights and such games are also played at reunion events.[8]

The predecessor to PROMYS was the Ross program, of which Glenn Stevens and many of the advanced course instructors are graduates.[9][10] PROMYS is committed to its policy that no student should be unable to attend because of lack of funds, and the program offers both full and partial scholarships.[11] In order to maintain this policy and help assure PROMYS’s continued existence in the face of diminished federal support for academic programs, alumni formed the PROMYS Foundation a 501(c)(3), in 2011.[12]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.bu.edu/math/people/faculty/algebra/pollack/stevens/
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "AMS Newsletter (Winter 2003)". American Mathematical Society. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Walsh, Bari (29 August 2003). "BU summer program builds a community of young math stars". BU Bridge. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  4. ↑ http://www.promys.org/alum-community/reunions
  5. ↑ "Counselor Talks". PROMYS Counselor Talks. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  6. ↑ "Guest Lectures". PROMYS. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Clay Mathematics Institute Research Labs". Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  8. ↑ http://www.promys.org/basic-page/promys-25th-summer-celebration-schedule
  9. ↑ "Ross Program". Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  10. ↑ "Ross Program FAQ". Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  11. ↑ "PROMYS Financial Aid". Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  12. ↑ "PROMYS Foundation". Retrieved 17 January 2014.

External links

Further reading