Ben, ‘11

May 24, 2008

I have survived my first week of math research. I really had no idea what to expect when I went into it. I knew that I would probably be one of the least prepared, having only finished Calculus 2, and that I was getting in way over my head. Now that the first week is done, I would confirm my expectations. For the first two days, I was basically lost. We were covering “fundamental” math concepts that I had not even heard of. So, it’s difficult to follow along without being overwhelmed. This is basically how the first two days went for me. It was mainly lecturing in math for about five hours a day. However, once I started to get the hang of it and actually started asking questions, it got a lot better. It’s fairly enjoyable now and I really like my group, which consists of one other student, our professor, and another student/assistant. I now understand a fair amount and things are starting to get easier. We’ve made some really cool graphics representing what we’re studying. Still, it is daunting to look at my summer and see eight hours of math research for five days a week for ten weeks. That’s 400 hours of working with math in my near future.

I suppose that I should actually explain what we are researching. When I say that I’m doing math research, most people just give me a blank stare. When I expound on my actual project though, they are even more bewildered and don’t follow at all. So, I’ll try to simplify things. What we covered this week were the basic components of curves. Our project is specifically concerned with the curvature of these curves. So, we compute basic vectors that run tangential and normal to the curve. Every Friday each group gives a presentation and we thought the simplest way to think of it was as a car (a point) being on a curvy road (a curve). Pointing an arrow dead ahead of the car at any point will give you the direction (compass reading). This arrow would be of constant length. If that arrow were adjusted to show how fast you are going in that direction, then that arrow would give you velocity (speedometer and compass). Continuing with this process, we also create other arrows that are perpendicular to the two we just made. However, we don’t care how fast the car is going or about any actual properties of the car. We care about pure direction and the properties of the road. So, we give all of the arrows a constant length and simply want to know how these arrows are changing and how quickly at that. To finish up, we create circles that would show the path your car would travel if you locked your hands in a certain position on the steering wheel. The smaller and tighter the circle, the bigger the curvature. I know it’s really complicated to explain, but it’s mainly conceptual projects right now. We will eventually start examining the components of blood vessels and how, when they get bunched up and coiled, the curvature can become extreme. This could result in strokes. This curvature becomes known as tortuosity and it’s pretty exciting stuff. So, I’ll work on explaining my project better and report back to you as we progress even more. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find some graphics that we have done to explain things more efficiently.

Even though I did work full-time for four days this week, I did do plenty of other things. On my free day of Monday, I went to a local ice cream shop with my friend. He lives in Richmond and I hadn’t seen him since school ended. It was good to catch up with each other and just talk.

We also had some social gatherings with my research posse. I am one of six different research groups that comprise LURE (Long-Term Undergraduate Research). In all, there are about 20 students involved. So, we all went to one of our adviser’s house for a dinner on Wednesday night. We were able to prove that, for the most part, a group of math students can carry on a normal conversation and be quite social. We talked about everything from movies to airport stories to politics. I also got a group of us together on Friday night to play four hours of Apples to Apples and Catchphrase. It was pretty fun.

Playing Apples to Apples with fellow researchers

It was also my friend and roommate’s birthday this week, so we surprised him with a cookie cake and sang to him.

My roommate’s birthday

With all of this going on and working a 9-5 job, I’ve found out that time can disappear. After work, I usually go to the gym for a while and then dinner. By then, it’s 7:00 and time to take care of other items of business, such as e-mails and work for organizations or other projects I’ve been working on. By the time I’m done with that, I’ve been exhausted and really tired, so I usually hang out with friends for a while or watch TV before going to bed. I guess I never realized what it was like to work a normal job.

Finally, I need to mention a project I’ve been working on that I’m really excited about. Technically, it’s through student government, but I started it up on my own. I’m trying to bring a disc golf course to UR. I approached our Wellness Center with the idea and they were just starting to look into it as well. So, I’ve been given control of the project and have been contacting local disc golf clubs and other contacts. I just heard from a potential designer and things are really rolling along quickly. However, it is a lot of work with constant e-mail communication and keeping everything straight. If all goes well and we receive full funding and official approval from the University soon, then we are hoping to have the course up in the fall.

That’s all for now My life is busy, but I’m on a three-day weekend with Memorial Day and have time to recover. I move into the on-campus apartments tomorrow and hope to just relax for a short while now. I’m afraid that this blog got a bit long and complex, so sorry about that. Take care and enjoy the holiday weekend.

Quote of the Week: “Support Bacteria. They’re the only culture some people have” -Saying on one of the slides for a LURE presenter who is studying infectious diseases and was educating us about anti-bacterials.
Thought to Ponder: In the song “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain”, who is she?
Shout Outs: Anyone who is going to be on-campus this summer
YouTube Video of the Week:

I don’t know why I picked this one. It entertained me though and I kept watching. Enjoy.