Undergraduate Research

There are several ways students can become involved in research while still an undergraduate at Duke. After these programs, students can continue their research as a senior research project to earn Graduation with Distinction.

Math+

Math+ (formerly DOmath) is an eight-week collaborative summer research program in mathematics, open to all Duke undergraduates. The program consists of groups of 2-4 undergraduate students working together on a single project. Each project is led by a faculty mentor assisted by a graduate student.

PRUV Fellow Program

PRUV provides financial support for six weeks of summer research with a faculty mentor in the Duke Mathematics Department. PRUV fellows, usually in the summer after their junior year, receive a stipend and live on campus with other students in the program.

Data+

Data+ is a ten-week summer research experience open to Duke undergraduates of all majors who are interested in exploring new data-driven approaches to interdisciplinary challenges. Students join small project teams, working alongside other teams in a communal environment. They learn how to marshal, analyze, and visualize data while gaining broad exposure to the modern world of data science.

Seminar Courses

We offer seminar courses that offer the opportunity to begin a research project within a small class setting and earn course credit. These include MATH 305S, Number Theory; MATH 323S, Geometry; MATH 361S, Mathematical Numerical Analysis; MATH 451S, Nonlinear Ordinary Differential Equations; and MATH 476S, Mathematical Modeling.

Independent Study

Students can pursue a research project with a faculty mentor and earn course credit in a Research Independent Study.  Often such an independent study continues research begun in one of the above programs.  Examples of recent projects include "Neural Coding in the Barn Owl", "Higher Genus Modular Forms", "Computing and Kidneys", "Yang-Mills flow on 4-manifolds", "Image Processing for Art Investigation", and "Random Unitary Transformations"..

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)

Students are encouraged to participate in the many summer REU programs held at a variety of schools around the country.