Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, on Friday announced that UCSB received a $352,000 grant to support the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, an eight-week STEM program designed to introduce its participants to mathematical research.

Each summer from 2015-17, 12 students will work with two faculty members on original research projects in mathematics.

REU programs have a track record of recruiting women, minorities and students from colleges that lack undergraduate research opportunities. Their goal is to expose and retain participants from these underrepresented and underserved groups in the field of mathematics.

In addition to learning about mathematics and their specific fields of interests, students will learn how to give successful presentations and write research papers, as well as how to pursue graduate studies and engage with the wider mathematical community.

“It is critical that we provide our students with educational opportunities in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields,” Capps said. “This program will create an environment where talented undergraduates can explore areas of mathematics that fall outside of the standard curriculum. UCSB and the entire Central Coast community will benefit from the REU program and the skills and abilities of these talented students.”

The project is under the direction of Maria Isabel Bueno Cachadina in the UCSB Department of Mathematics.

“Thanks to the generosity of the National Science Foundation, the UCSB Mathematics Department now has the funding to work with our best and brightest undergraduates over the summer,” said Professor Padraic Bartlett and Professor Maribel Bueno Cachadina from the UCSB Department of Mathematics and College of Creative Studies. “With this grant, we will be able to guide a diverse population of young students through open research problems in mathematics. The payoff — whether measured in terms of its impact on Santa Barbara’s own talented students, our ability to attract and work with brilliant students from across the country, or even when measured as an opportunity to expand the boundaries of mathematical knowledge — figures to be immense.”

— Chris Meagher is the press secretary for Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.