UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 7
October 17, 1996
Math sciences receives $1 million NSF grant

     The Department of Mathematical Sciences has been awarded a
prestigious Group Infrastructure Grant (GIG) from the National
Science Foundation, totaling more than $1 million over five years
that will help provide broader training for graduate students in
mathematics by placing them in industrial internships and funding
their studies for two years during their degree programs.
     The principal investigators are Richard Braun, L. Pamela
Cook, department chairperson, and Peter Monk, and the grant
supports the work of an applied mathematics group that includes
14 faculty members.
     Currently, the department is involved in setting up
internships at such locations as the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, the DuPont Co., Brooks Air Force Base,
Rockwell International Corp., Corning Inc. and Dow Corning Corp.
     Students will benefit from hands-on experience and training
in a corporate environment, which will give them a wider range of
career options in an increasingly competitive job market as
government support of basic research has decreased.
     Industry will profit from the application of mathematical
and computational expertise to complicated problems.
     The grant also will be used to acquire computers and to
develop a laboratory/consultation facility to support cooperative
work with industry and government.
     An international panel of applied mathematicians has been
appointed to provide additional expertise and to review the
program annually.
                                              -Sue Swyers Moncure