The Mathematics and Computer Science Department at Berea College has a strong and long-standing program of research involving faculty and undergraduate students.

Impact of Research on Graduate School and/or Career Decisions

• Many students who participate in summer research select graduate programs related to their research projects.
• Participating students write a formal final report and make a formal presentation at a professional conference.

Outreach Activities Related to Research

• The Department has hosted several conferences and sponsored sessions in professional society meetings related to our various research projects.
• The Department’s FIPSE grant of $76,980 between 1991 and 1994 was used primarily to produce curricular materials to support an experiment in intertwining traditional function topics, curve fitting, mathematical modeling, and computer use in an approach to precalculus.
• The 1991-2 RUI project is described in an article which appeared in Newsletter 22 (November 1991) of the Classification Society of North America entitled “Undergraduate research Participation at Berea College.” and more recent departmental research is described in the September 1998 issue of the Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly, subtitled “Community Research: Making a Difference.” In this issue, the article “Undergraduate Research and Grass Roots Organizations: Addressing Controversial Environmental Issues” documents the recent work of the Berea College Mathematics Department research program and offers suggestions on how other departments can make research connections with community organizations, particularly in the field of Mathematics.

An Example of Community-Oriented Applied Mathematics Research

• Introduction
  
• Motivation
• Evolution
• Research
• Impact on Issue
• Benefits
  • Whitney Blackburn
  • Srabasti Dutta
  • Brian Moyers
  • Eddie Valaitis
  • James Blackburn-Lynch
  • Jan Pearce
• Other Research
• Funding
• Conclusion
• References