A Primer for Undergraduate Research

This highly readable book aims to ease the many challenges of starting undergraduate research. It accomplishes this by presenting a diverse series of self-contained, accessible articles which include specific open problems and prepare the reader to tackle them with ample background material and references. Each article also contains a carefully selected bibliography for further reading.

The content spans the breadth of mathematics, including many topics that are not normally addressed by the undergraduate curriculum (such as matroid theory, mathematical biology, and operations research), yet have few enough prerequisites that the interested student can start exploring them under the guidance of a faculty member. Whether trying to start an undergraduate thesis, embarking on a summer REU, or preparing for graduate school, this book is appropriate for a variety of students and the faculty who guide them. 

Author Biography

Aaron Wootton, Valerie Peterson and Christopher Lee are all current professors in the Mathematics department of the University of Portland.

Professor Wootton’s research interests include Complex Algebraic Geometry: Defining equations for Riemann Surfaces, Quasiplatonic Surfaces and Dessins D’Enfants, Automorphism Groups of Compact Riemann Surfaces; Group Theory: Finite Groups (Group Actions and Structure Theory), Finitely Presented Groups; Geometric Group Theory: Discrete Groups (Fuchsian Groups and Fundamental Groups), Mapping Class Groups of Compact Connected Surfaces.

Professor Peterson’s research interests include algebraic topology, metric and combinatorial geometry, geometric group theory, and the teaching and learning of mathematics.

Professor Lee’s research interests include equivariant differential topology and geometry. In particular: Hamiltonian Lie group actions on (folded) symplectic and contact manifolds, symmetry in completely integrable systems, applications of (combinatorial and smooth) Morse theory, and singularities of differentiable mappings.