by Daniel Maxin
I spent two months this summer as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I was one of two Early Career Faculty selected to participate in the IMMERSE program which stands for: Intensive Mathematics:a Mentoring, Education and Research Summer Experience. http://www.math.unl.edu/programs/mctp/immerse/
This program is the centerpiece of the NSF grant MCTP (Nebraska Mentoring through Critical Transition Points).

About 20 pre-graduate students are selected to participate in the program. A pre-graduate is a student who just finished college and he/she is already admitted to a graduate program in mathematics that starts in the Fall Semester immediately following the summer program. During the course of about 6 weeks these students take two intensive courses taught by Early Career Faculty assisted by a team of graduate students from UNL: one in Abstract Algebra and one in Real Analysis. The preference is to select students from small colleges that may benefit the most from taking an advanced mathematics course which may not be offered at their undergraduate institutions. Thus the program is designed to help students transitioning from undergraduate to graduate school mathematics.

Early Career Faculty (myself included) are also selected in the same spirit of helping individuals during transition points in their career: they should be non-tenured but on a full time tenure-track appointment at a non-PhD granting institution.

I was responsible for designing and teaching the Analysis course. At the same time, as part of my duties during the program, I collaborated with a senior faculty in my area and worked together to identify a research project of common interest. The program provides support for continuing this collaboration during the following year.

While challenging for both the faculty and the students, the IMMERSE program provides a unique opportunity for students interested in pursuing graduate studies and every student admitted to graduate school should seriously consider applying to this program. More details will be provided in a presentation at our Department’s Colloquium