Undergraduate Research
The Mathematics Department at Virginia Tech emphasizes and features activity in undergraduate research. Numerous institutions, including the National Science Foundation, the American Mathematical Society, and the Society for Industrial & Applied Mathematics, also emphasize the importance of developing research opportunities for undergraduates. Undergraduate research experiences serve to prepare students for life after the BS degree, both in the industrial world and in graduate school.
Most undergraduate research is conducted through projects, directed by faculty members, for credit as Math 4994. Dr. Eyvindur Ari Palsson and Dr. Eric Ufferman coordinate the undergraduate research program for Mathematics at Virginia Tech, but we encourage students to reach out to any faculty member about your potential research interests.
In 1996 John Layman began funding an annual prize for undergraduate research in mathematics. The prize is not limited to math majors, nor honors projects. The first prize, in 1996, was for $250. The competition is called the John C. and Elsie M. Layman prize, in honor of the parents of John Layman.
You can learn more about the competition and about prior participants here and here. Past winners of the award are listed below.
- 2025: [Two winners]
- Theodore Li: "Subspace identification used to establish dynamics in time-sensitive ICU patient data" (research advisor Dr. Werner)
- Bethany Thompson: "Assessment Tasks for Epistemological Obstacles Related to Euler Diagrams" (research advisor Dr. Norton)
- 2024. No competition2024 [No competition]
- 2023: Robert Long
- 2022: [No competition]
- 2021: [Two winners]
- 2020: [Two winners]
- 2019: [No competition]
- 2018: Arianna Krinos and Aimee Maurais
- Title: "Parameter and Uncertainty Estimation for a Model of Atmospheric CO2 Observations via Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods."
- 2017: Bryan Kaperick
- Title: "A Block Hadamard Probing Method for Diagonal Estimation."
- Title: "A Block Hadamard Probing Method for Diagonal Estimation."
- 2016: Michael Brennan
- 2015: Blake Keeler
- 2014: Mark Lewers
- 2013: Lydia Krott
- 2012: Jackson Walters
- 2011: Caleb Magruder
- 2010: Ben Reid
- 2009: Toby Shearman
- 2007: Christopher Tompkins
- 2006: Matthew Yancey
- 2005: Bernard Farley
- 2003: Praphat Fernandes
- 2002: Steven Hair
- 2001: Erika Roberts
- 2000: Brian Sutton
- 1999: No competition
- 1998: Neural Networks Group (Walborn, Rollek, Nguyen, Shebey, Young)
- 1997: Karen Potanka
- 1996: Jason Martin
This is part of the University Honors Program and is available to Sophomores and Juniors who have GPA of 3.5 or higher. An undergraduate research project can serve as an Honors Thesis for students in the University Honors Program. The Honors Coordinator is Dr. Nick Loehr.
A number of summer research programs are available to undergraduates studying mathematics, particularly Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUS). You can find a current list of upcoming REUs using the link below.
The handbook linked below provides detailed information on this prestigious competition, in which Virginia Tech teams have done very well in recent years. Outstanding Winners from the 2018 competition, Arianna Krinos and Aimee Maurais, are pictured at the top of this page.
Use the link below to visit the university's Office of Undergraduate Research, which contains more information about opportunities and support for undergraduate researchers.
If you already have a project and advisor, get the College of Science Research form through the button below. You will need to scroll down to "Experiential Learning Form (Undergraduate Research/Field Study/Independent Study)" to start the electronic form.