In Summer 2023, nine local undergraduates will spent 8 weeks engaging in full-time mathematical research, thanks to funding from the Mathematical Association America’s (MAA) National Research Experience for Undergraduates Program (NREUP) and the DePaul University’s Undergraduate Summer Research Program (USRP). The 2023 Math REU at DePaul University was run by Department of Mathematical Sciences faulty Dr. Emily Barnard and Dr. Sarah Bockting-Conrad with support from graduate research assistant Reed Acton.

The following undergraduate students participated: Ugo Alozie (UIC), Daniel Chacon (Aurora University), Erik Dahlen, Daniel Gawel,  Blair Johnson, Joosung Lee, Jiahui Li, Dominic Morgan, Tosin Shokunbi (IIT).

Students’ research focused on the relatively new field of graph b-colorings. A b-coloring is a special kind of proper vertex coloring in which every color class must have at least one vertex which is adjacent to all other color classes. The largest number of colors that can be used in a b-coloring is called the b-chromatic number of the graph. Our students built on existing results about b-colorings and b-chromatic numbers and proved their own results on b-colorings of various graph families. At the end of the summer, students presented their findings at the 2023 DePaul Mathematics Summer Research Symposium.

More information about the research program, including a list of talks given by outside speakers, can be found here.

Are you interested in conducting mathematical research? (Great!) You can start by talking to the faculty members you know or by reaching out the the MAT department’s undergraduate research coordinator, Emily Barnard (e.barnard@depaul.edu).