On Reading day, Thursday, May 7th, the Mathematics Department held the Layman Prize Competition for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics. The competition was held from 10 am  - noon on Zoom.

Two students, Elizabeth Duncan and Sung Hyun Kim, were recognized as winners of this year's competition.

  • Elizabeth Duncan's project "Modeling T-cell differentiation" was advised by Dr. Lauren Childs.
  • Sung Hyun Kim's project "Approximating the Domain of Attraction for Quadratic Systems using Feedback Control" was advised by Dr. Jeff Bouggaard.

Congratulations go to both the students and their advisors!

Six students participated in the competition. Each contributor was given 20 minutes to present their work and answer questions from the panel of judges. 

The students, in presentation order, along with the titles of the projects and their research advisors are:

  • Elizabeth Duncan: "Modeling T-cell differentiation" (Childs)
  • Thomas Grady: "Generalized Adjoint-based Halo Exchange for Distributed Deep Learning" (Hewett)
  • Robyn Greissinger: "Analyzing the Development and Interconnectedness of Ebola Compartmental Models" (Childs)
  • Sung Hyun Kim: "Approximating the Domain of Attraction for Quadratic Systems using Feedback Control" (Borggaard)
  • Rachael Stryker:   "How can student generated drawings be used to offload the cognitive demand of mathematical tasks" (Norton)
  • Emma Stump: "Parasitism of Aedes albopictus by Ascogregarina taiwanensis lowers its competitive ability against Aedes triseriatus" (Childs)

Thanks to all the students and their advisors who participated!

And a special thanks to the faculty, Dr. Gretchen Matthews, Dr. Omar Saucedo, and Dr. Lizette Zietsman who served on the Evaluation Committee! And to Serkan Gugercin for organizing the competition.

You can see the complete list of winners posted on the Undergraduate Research page on the Mathematics Department Website.