Summer Opportunities

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (or REUs) are competitive summer research programs in various topics of mathematics.  These programs take place at large universities across the U.S., and usually last 8-10 weeks during the summer.  A typical REU includes 10-20 students who work very closely with each other and under the direction of one or more professors on a problem of mathematical research.  In addition to the invaluable experience of doing collaborative research on the cutting edge of current research, REU programs offer a generous stipend, and opportunity to build deep relationships with other students and faculty.

Applications are typically due between February and March. The programs are competitive and generally require between one and three letters of reference, a transcript and an essay. 

List of summer REU programs

Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics (SIBS)

Intensive 6-week paid internships at several research universities in the U.S.  SIBS is an excellent opportunity to learn more about the field of Biostatistics in a mentored research setting with top researchers.

Link to the SIBS website

Wheaton College Research Internships in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics

The Wheaton College Summer Research Program offers several 10-week long paid internships for students to collaborate with Wheaton College faculty on research projects.  Contact the mathematics faculty for more details.

Summer Internships in the Industry

A number of companies in the area offer summer internships for students majoring in math.  These internships are well-paid full-time summer jobs that provide a good experience of working in the industry.  Stop by the Math and Computer Science bulletin board next to the Josephson project room (SC 168) for more information. 

Students who have participated in summer programs

2021

• Caitlin Curry - Intern at Sandia National Laboratories (CA) in the Systems Biology department, processing and analyzing genetic data
• Lindsay Fadel – Data Analytics intern for Performance Trust in Chicago
• Kate Gorman – Analyst intern at Chatham Financial
• Grace Johnson – REU hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute focused on Industrial Mathematics and Statistics
• Avyi Hill – Summer program through the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, a joint program through Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh working on mechanistic modeling with neuroscience
• Lucy Henneker – Summer research with Dr. Isihara - Using complex variables to model groundwater flow and the Fischer-Calo superfund contaminant plume remediation
• Benjamin Jawer – Partnerships Product Coordinator intern for Cloud9 Esports Inc.
• Alex McKeaney – Intern at Susquehanna International Group in the Operations department
• Amelia Miller – Business Intelligence intern at Teknion Data Solutions
• Daniel Rendall - Summer research with Dr. Isihara - Mathematical explorations using Python Jupyter Notebooks

2020

• Andrew Peterson - University of Iowa, Summer Institute in Biostatistics
• Allyson Lyle – Carnegie Mellon University, Summer Security Intensive
• Andrew Park - Texas A&M University REU - Probability and Algebra Program
• Kevin Riley - working for Berkeley National Laboratory with an electrical engineer doing research on data acquisition hardware for use at cryogenic temperatures
• Lindsay Fadel and Dawson Bremner – summer research with Dr. Stephen Lovett – Programming Differential Geometry applets
• Nicole Wright – summer internship with the Pardee Center, part of the University of Denver - research aid for the literature review team that writes statistical and forecasting reports for clients all around the world and participating in the data analysis side of the company as well.
• Caitlin Curry - virtual REU with North Carolina A&T and Elon University in mathematical biology - working on a project quantitatively investigating the COVID-19 pandemic
• Olivia Pearsall – summer Business Intelligence Internship with Teknion Data Solutions in Dallas, Texas
• Nathan Varberg - Data science intern for Medtronic
• Jonathan Higgins - Texas State University REU - working with a team on algebra research (specifically, graphs of finite groups)
• Jason Meyer - summer Research Assistant for the Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics, and Economics, working on a variety of projects related to domestic violence
• Jonathan Tannous – summer research with the Physics Department - code updates and computer modeling - research is on plasma physics, particularly reconnection events in the Wheaton Impulsive Reconnection eXperiment (WIRX).
• Jonah Jones – continuing an independent research project (supervised by Dr. Hunt and Dr. Diedrichs) begun spring 2020 - applying the concepts learned in Mathematical Modeling (taught by Dr. Diedrichs 2019) to data recorded by athletes on the men's and women's Cross Country and Track teams. Goal is to create a mechanistic model for the onset of fatigue.
• Avyi Hill - REU with North Carolina A&T State University and Elon University - Phosphorylation site prediction using statistical machine learning algorithms
• Andy Holmberg - environmental modeling at the University of Minnesota for the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering - using a combination of mechanistic and empirical modeling to explore problems of water level and purity in the state of Minnesota.

2019

• Danny Du - summer internship at CATO Institute for Financial and Monetary Alternatives
• Haley Duba - REU at Iowa State University in the data science group.  Project title, “Solving Systems of Equations from Distributed Data.”
• Nathan Varberg - Summer Institute in Biostatistics program at the Boston University School of Public Health
• Kevin Tully - REU at California State University, San Bernardino, in Differential Geometry and Knot Theory
• Kailey Mulligan - Big Data Summer Institute at the University of Michigan
• Faythe Lemke - IT/Beehive intern at HoneyRock
• Gabriel Flores - REU at Pomona College, working on Modular curves
• Matt Reiskytl - financial advising internship at Northwestern Mutual
• Jonah Jones - Computational Chemistry research (molecular simulations and modeling) at Wheaton College
• Katie McCollum and Jonathan Larson - Data Analysis internships with Samaritan's Purse
• Jonathan Ward - summer mentored research at Wheaton College with Dr. Isihara , an in-depth survey of the data analytics projects conducted by the City of Chicago's Department of Innovation and Technology.
• Stephen McKay - summer research at Wheaton College with Dr. Craig in the Wheaton Impulsive Reconnection eXperiment (WIRX) to study pulsed direct-current hydrogen plasmas

2018

• Sara Magnuson, Tabitha Peter and Michelle Smith - Iowa Summer Institute in Biostatistics, Radiomics for Disease Characterization: An Outcome Prediction in Cancer Patients
• Kevin Tully - REU at James Madison University, finding the optimal boundaries for the perfect steak using partial differential equations
• Skyler Laney, Leo O'Malley and Cathy Shi - summer mentored research at Wheaton College, survey and analysis of humanitarian relief organizations that seek to mathematically quantify the values and principles that shape their disaster response
• Gabriel Flores, Jonathan Larson and Ted Townsend - summer mentored research at Wheaton College, simulation of the use of UAV's to deliver emergency supplies after a disaster
• Matthew Rueger - summer internship at Chatham Financial
• Courtney Linscott - summer internship at Southwest Airlines (Dallas)
• Caleb Veth - Sales, trading and analytics summer internship at Performance Trust (Chicago)

2017

• Nick Varberg - REU at IUPUI in data science
• Kevin Tully, Tim Kartiwijaya and Ted Townsend - summer mentored research at Wheaton College: 1) CCCU Project designing a conjoint analysis survey to study trade-off decision-making in faith-based disaster relief management; 2) MATLAB modeling of disaster response using the Smart Emergency Response System
• Skyler Laney - internship with Kids' Alive International in the Dominican Republic
• Zoe Kallus - internship with Samaritan's Purse

2016

• Claire Carlson - REU at Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, analyzing global databases
• Hunter Dinkins - REU at Missouri State University on dynamics of the Pentagram map
• Griffin Walker - REU at St. Mary's College of Maryland on Knot Theory
• Dave Broaddus, Dawson Miller and Caitlin Smith - summer mentored research at Wheaton College on seeing curvatures of reflective surfaces
• Jacob Clement and Kyu Lee - summer mentored research at Wheaton College on MATLAB modeling of violent typhoon prediction and humanitarian disaster organizations
• David Garringer - summer internship at Investortools

2015

• Miriam Agamah - Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at Boston University
• Claire Carlson - summer mentored research at Wheaton College on equity in disaster response
• Johhny Edman - CCICADA REU at Rutgers University on experimental designs for walk through metal detectors at large stadiums
• Robin Kong - summer mentored research at Wheaton College on population dynamics of unreached people groups in America
• Emily Willson - mathematics internship with the Department of Defense developing analytical and statistical tools to solve a computer networking problem of national defense interest

2014

• Daniel Bradley - REU at Missouri State University in sequences of plane and space figures
• Kyle Burris - Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at Columbia University
• Alyssa Everding - Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at University of Pittsburgh
• Michael Keitzman, Kaile Phelps and Philip Stanton - summer mentored research at Wheaton College on mathematical applications in emergency disaster relief operations  
• Leon Su - summer research at Indiana University School of Medicine department of Biostatistics

2013

• Alyssa Everding - REU at MSU in Probability and Discrete Mathematics
• Josh Green - Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at Boston University
• Daniel Hudson - summer mentored research at Wheaton College in the HDI data mapping system
• Kelsey Lafferty - REU at Cal State Bernardino in Geometry and Knot Theory
• Matthew McMillan - REU at University of California, Berkeley in Symplectic Geometry
• Leon Su - Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at North Carolina State University
• Ben Williams - Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at Columbia University

2012

• Doeke Buursma - summer mentored research at Wheaton College in mathematical epidemiology
• Katrina Hartzler - Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at Washington University
• Joshua Snoke - Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at Boston University
• Nate Veldt - REU at Northern Arizona University
• Adam Zarn - REU at Fresno State University, studying Survival Analysis, a branch of Statistics

2011

• Ben Fulan - REU at Kent State University in Geometry
• Jeff Sommars - REU at Texas A&M in Computational Algebraic Geometry

2010

• Brian Larson - REU at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Computational Number Theory
• Christina Radder - Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at North Carolina State University

2009

• Kimberly Kopchick and David Lewis - multi-week research and ministry experience in Japan with Dr. Isihara

2008

• Sarah Cob - REU at Hope College
• Michael DiPasquale - REU at Louisiana State University
• Jessie Liebe - 4 week research experience in Cambridge, England with Dr. Brabenec
• Gloria Cho, Sam Cole, Cora Embalabala, Mike Kerins, Kimberly Kopchick, Xiaoxiao Liu and Zachary Ward - multi-week research and ministry experience in Japan with Dr. Isihara

2007

• Andrew Betts - Mekelle Institute of Technology, Ethiopia - Mathematics of Wireless Communications
• Michael DiPasquale - REU at University of North Carolina, Asheville in connectivity properties of infinite graphs
• Sarah Motsinger - REU at University of Illinois in Financial Mathematics and Stochastic Modeling
• Kelly Whiting - Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at Duke

2006

• Esther Lee - Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics at UW, Madison
• Ashley Zenisek - instructor at the John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth

2005

• Matt Cardwell - REU at Oregon State University in knot theory
• Christine Charlton - internship at the National Security Agency
• Jeff Patillo - internship at the National Security Agency

2004

• Stephen Hruska - REU at California State University, San Bernardino in graph theory
• Jeffrey Pattillo - REU at Texas A&M University in game theory

2003

• Nathaniel Stapleton - REU at Indiana University in Galois theory

2002

• Rebekah Johnson - Johns Hopkins program for gifted students - teaching assistant for probability and game theory
• Will Landry - REU at UIC in fractals, chaos, and complex dynamics

2000

• Rebekah Johnson - Johns Hopkins program for gifted students - teaching assistant for individually paced math sequence
• Andrea Koenigsberg - research project in knot theory in Wheaton's Science Division Summer Research Program with Dr. Isihara
• Nancy Elizabeth Bush - Johns Hopkins program for gifted youth

1999

• Nancy Elizabeth Bush - George Washington University program for women in mathematics

1998

• Anne Hurd - research project in mathematical biology, Utah State University