The
VIGRE program, the NSF-funded Vertical Integration of Research and
Education, is well into its second year at Rice.
VIGRE involves faculty, post-docs, graduate students, and undergraduates
from three departments: Mathematics, Statistics, and Computational
and Applied Mathematics. During the school year, these participants
form interdisciplinary teams to investigate cutting-edge research problems.
During the 2004-05 year, ten teams were formed, and the students and
faculty in these teams studied problems in a wide range of areas from
computational finance to statistical genomics to computational image
processing.
Students from many of these teams continued their research in Summer
2005. For example, students working in Computational Neuroscience continued
their work on a neuro-simulator that mathematically models the electrical
behavior of neurons in a particular region of the hippocampus using
computational methods. The work students are doing is of particular
interest to the Knierim Lab at the University of Texas Health Science
Center, which conducts experiments investigating questions such as
this: “How do the neurons [in the brain] interact to construct
a coherent, stable representation of a spatial environment?” Answers
may lead to a better understanding of the processes of the brain specific
to navigation, learning, and memory.
During the months of June and July, faculty and students also had the
opportunity to attend “The VIGRE Interval” activities that
began at 3 pm each Wednesday. The events kicked off with an Ice Cream
Social on June 1 in which team members introduced
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VIGRE participants examine
the posters on display during the summer poster session. |
themselves to other teams and discussed progress of their work. On
June 8 and 15, the Cain Project sponsored three communication workshops:
Giving Oral Presentations in the Math Sciences, Organizing Patterns
for Written and Oral Reports, and Information Design: Principles and
Practices. Updates from several VIGRE teams about the progress of their
research were given during the end of June and beginning of July, while
a final poster symposium capped off the summer activities on July 22.
VIGRE Teams and Faculty Leaders
Computational Algebraic Geometry,
Dr. Hassett
Developmental Biology, Dr. Forman
Computational Finance, Dr. Ensor
Statistical Genomics, Dr. Guerra
Computational Neuroscience,
Dr. S. Cox
Metabolic Engineering, Dr. S. Cox
Simulation-Driven Optimization: Control, Design, and Inverse Problems,
Dr. Symes and Dr. Heinkenschloss
Geometric Calculus of Variations,
Dr. Hardt and Dr. M. Wolf
Stochastic Processes and Molecular Biology, Dr. D. Cox and Dr. S. Cox
Computational Image Processing,
Dr. Hyde, Dr. Tapia, and Dr. Zhang
http://www.vigre.rice.edu
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Leadership and Professional
Development
Courses -
Fall ‘05
Presenting Your Research
Monday, Oct. 3rd - 3:00 - 5:00 pm
How to Recognize and Avoid Plagiarism
Friday, Oct. 28th 3:00 - 5:00 pm
How to Write a Paper for Publication
Friday, Oct. 7th - 3:00 - 5:00 pm
How to Plan, Write, and Defend your Thesis
Friday, Oct. 21st - 3:00 - 5:00 pm
Data Display: How to Effectively Present Your Findings
Friday, Nov. 18th - 10 am - Noon
To register for these courses, visit:
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~cainproj
The Cain Project in Engineering
and Professional Communication helps Rice students become
expert speakers and writers. Because of the Gordon and
Mary Cain Foundation’s generous gift, undergraduate
and graduate students in science and engineering are developing
the communication skills necessary for successful professional
leadership.
Linda Driskill, PhD
Tracy Volz, PhD
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Director
Assistant Director |
Rice
University
PO Box 1892 - MS-340
Houston, TX 77251-1892
Phone: (713) 348-6141
Fax: (713) 348-6175
Email: cainproj@rice.edu
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