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Math Community Guide: Undergraduate Research

BSU Mathematics Department Events, BSU Math Club, and more

Honors Theses

(2013) Title: Efficiency and Reliability of the Transit Data Lifecycle: A Study of Multimodal Migration, Storage, and Retrieval Techniques for Public Transit Data, by Matthew Ahrens.  (Advisor: Dr. Uma Shama)

(2013) Title: Abandoning Standard Assumptions in Pareto Optimization Models: Simulating Market Scenarios with Incorrectly Estimated Preference Structures, by Joshua Bernard. (Advisor: Dr. Kevin Rion)

(2013) Title: Common Fundamental Domains for Lattices of the Same Volume, by Ashley Erwin.  (Advisor: Dr. Vignon Oussa)

(2012) Title: The Algebra of the Algebraic Integers in Q(√13) with Two Characterizations of Its Units, by Matthew Keogh. (Advisor: Professor Thomas E. Moore)

(2011) Title: Impact of Pathways to College Level Mathematics on Success in Mathematics and Retention, by Paraskevi Liousas. (Advisor: Dr. Uma Shama)

(2011) Title: Analysis of the “Travelling Salesman Problem” and an Application of Heuristic Techniques for Finding a New Solution, by Mateusz Pacha-Sucharzewski. (Advisor: Dr. Ward Heilman)

(2011) Title: Analyzing the Galois Groups of Fifth-Degree and Fourth-Degree Polynomials, by Jesse Berglund. (Advisor: Dr. Ward Heilman)

Recent Symposium Presentations

Student Research Symposium
Monday, April 28, 2014
Bridgewater State University

 

Poster Presentations

Mentor: Dr. Shannon Lockard

9:05 - 9:55 am (Moakley Atrium)
Who Wants to Play Sadisticube, by Danica Baker

 

Mentor: Dr. Vignon Oussa

Computations of Miquels Points and Circles with Mathematica, by Ashley Erwin

 

Oral Presentation

Mentor: Dr. Uma Shama

12:40 - 1:30 pm (Burnell 130)
Standards and Interoperability in Transit Data, by Andrew Seremetis

 

Poster Presentations

Mentor: Dr. Laura Gross

1:40 - 2:30 pm (Moakley Atrium)
Modeling Rhythmic Cannons, by Danica Baker
Mathematics Applied to Archaeology, by Neil Cuddy
Mathematics in Cryptography, by Matthew McGrail
How Does Linear Algebra Apply to Computer Graphics?, by Terry Mullen
Using Graph Theory to Analyze Networks, by Yaqin Sun

 

Mentor: Dr. Uma Shama

2:40 - 3:30 pm (Moakley Atrium)
Display of Real-Time Transit Data on the Web, by Christopher Gracia
Creating Web-Based, Real-Time, Interregional, and Intermodal Public Transportation Navigation Tools from Boston to Cape Cod for the Summer of 2013, by Carly Van Zandt
GTFS Feed Generator, by Benjamin Jordan-Careau & Derek Campbell

 

Past Symposiums

Featured Fall 2013 Mid-Year Symposium Presentation

Show Time

The 2013 mid-year symposium held on December 9, 2013 showcased student writing, high-level math and science, and even mechanical devices built by student researches, such as the harmonograph (see video below).

Title: Lissajous Curves and Harmonograph
Presenters: Kelsey Cummings, Robert Guillette who constructed the harmonograph, and Fred Neilan
Mentor: Dr. Annela Kelly

Source: News & Events, Bridgewater State University
Date: December 20, 2013
URL: http://www.bridgew.edu/news-events/news/show-time

Featured Undergraduate Research

Title: Modeling the Retreat of Glaciers in a Changing Climate, by Robert Guillette, Selected to present in Posters on the Hill, Washington DC, spring 2014 (Mentor: Dr. Irina Seceleanu)

Title: Exploring Diagonals in the Calkin-Wilf Tree, by Matthew Gagne. In The Undergraduate Review: A JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND CREATIVE WORK, Volume IX, 2012-2013, pp. 37-40.  (Mentor: Dr. Shannon Lockard)

Title: Modeling Plaque Aggregation on the Neuronal Network, by Thomas Howard. In The Undergraduate Review: A JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND CREATIVE WORK, Volume IX, 2012-2013, pp. 47-54.  (Mentor: Dr. Irina Seceleanu)

Title: Analyzing the Galois Groups of Fifth-Degree and Fourth-Degree Polynomials, by Jesse Berglund The Undergraduate Review: A JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND CREATIVE WORK, Volume VII, 2010-2011, pp. 23-29.  (Mentor: Dr. Ward Heilman)

Title: Analysis of the “Travelling Salesman Problem” and an Application of Heuristic Techniques for Finding a New Solution, by Mateusz Pacha-Sucharzewski. In The Undergraduate Review: A JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND CREATIVE WORK, Volume VII, 2010-2011, pp. 82-87.  (Mentor: Dr. Ward Heilman)

Title: Impact of Pathways to College Level Mathematics on Success in Mathematics and Retention, by Paraskevi Liousas. In The Undergraduate Review: A JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND CREATIVE WORK, Volume VII, 2010-2011, pp. 141-148.  (Mentor: Dr. Uma Shama)

Title: eπ¡ + 1 = 0 : The History & Development, by Dawne Charters-Nelson. In The Undergraduate Review: A JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND CREATIVE WORK, Volume VI, 2009-2010, pp. 148-153.  (Mentor: Professor Philip Scalisi)

Title: The Design and Testing of Hand Held Devices to Assist Persons with Disabilities to Navigate Bus Services, Daniel Fitch. In The Undergraduate Review: A JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND CREATIVE WORK, Volume IV, 2007-2008, pp. 9-12.  (Mentor: Dr. Uma Shama and Mr. Lawrence Harman)

Useful Research Tools

Zotero

Helps you collect, manage, cite, and share your research sources, and lives right where you do your work—in the web browser itself.

Contact
508-531-1766 or Robert Wilson, if you need further help in finding research materials.

Visit The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) for funding opportunities.

Research Tips

Pointers for working on your research:

Consult with your advisor or mentor and discuss with your peers often, which may help find and refine your ideas. Your advisor or mentor may suggest a few relevant articles at the beginning stage of your research. The reference lists in these papers may point you to other relevant articles. But, keep in mind that searching for research topics as well as refining your ideas sometimes is a long and challenging process. Start early and work closely with your faculty mentor.

Use math topic related encyclopedias and dictionaries to verify your ideas and thoughts. These resources can also provide you with the background information on the topics of interest to you and may help further your research pursuit. Britannica Online Academic Edition and Credo Reference are two examples of this type of resources.

Use a citation manager to store and organize the citation information of the books and the articles you have consulted when conducting literature search. Tools with note taking and citation generation capabilities are ideal as you can write your review summary and save it for later use and output a group of selected citations in the style you want as well. Zotero is one such tool and is free.

Outline how you want to organize and present your research findngs in your paper when get to the writing stage. Consult and discuss with your advisors whenever you don't feel confident.

For citation styles, check with your advisor to find out the citation style suited for your field. Then follow the Citation Style Guides to cite and compose your reference list.

Always give credits to the images, graphics, and charts that you will be using for your papers. Be copyright conscientious!  When the original authors cannot be reached, contact the publishers for permissions for use .

Happy researching and happy writing!