Department of Mathematics announces Undergraduate Research Award winners

LAWRENCE — The Department of Mathematics at the University of Kansas has awarded $1,000 scholarships to three KU students to support their research projects for the spring 2023 semester.

The Undergraduate Research Awards in Mathematics (MathUGRAs) are provided to math majors pursuing original research or creative projects under the general guidance of a KU math faculty member. The awards are supported by the department’s endowment funds. MathUGRAs are awarded to students conducting semester-long independent projects culminating in an oral presentation or written work, demonstrating the student’s own development of a topic in mathematics and its applications. Recipients of the award were selected on the merit of the applicant's proposal, the applicant's academic record and the recommendation from a faculty member who is familiar with the applicant and the proposed project.

The spring 2023 recipients:

Alex Gisi, West Des Moines, Iowa, senior in mathematics and computer science: “Model Predictive Control for Uncertain Autonomous Driving,” a research project to implement, experiment with and seek to improve stochastic model predictive control techniques for self-driving cars in uncertain environments. Gisi’s research mentor is Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, professor of mathematics, courtesy professor of electrical engineering & computer science and aerospace engineering, and investigator at the Information & Telecommunication Technology Center.

Mac Hayes, Rock Creek senior in mathematics: “Establishing the Katetov-Tong Theorem for Closed Intervals of the Real Line.” The aim of this project is to construct a proof for the theorem for functions with closed interval domains in the real number. One of Hayes’ goals is to learn the foundational topics while building his understanding of related insertion theorems. Hayes’ research mentor is Jack Porter, professor of mathematics.

Griffin Keeter, Kansas City, Missouri, senior in mathematics and computer science: “Adaptive Moving Mesh Optimization.” This project will determine if using geometric discretization using the edge matrices of a mesh will be effective for various kinds of meshing functionals, then to implement these adaptive moving mesh algorithms in MATLAB to simulate partial differential equations. Keeter’s research mentor is Weizhang Huang, professor of mathematics.