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Rob McEwen ’05 (Morgantown, Pa.) and Prince Chidyagwai ’05 (Marondera, Zimbabwe) both major in mathematics and computer science, have conducted research together in a National Science Foundation program, serve as president and vice president of the math honor society, earned honorable mention in the Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling, and represent half of the reigning Math Bowl championship team.
They went their separate ways this summer, however, in research programs that teamed them with top mathematics students from across the country. They will discuss their experiences in “What I Did This Summer” noon Friday in Pardee Hall room 227.
The event is sponsored by the mathematics department. For more information, contact Derek Smith, assistant professor of mathematics.
Last spring, Chidyagwai and McEwenformed a team with two other students to win the annual Math Bowl. Two summers ago, they used a number of software programs in research with practical uses in protein folding techniques in biology and in designing robotic arm movements. They worked with Gary Gordon, professor of mathematics, as part of the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at Lafayette, and presented their findings at mathematics conferences in Philadelphia and Baltimore, Md.
McEwen joined REU again last year, but this summer, he served a research internship in the Director’s Summer Program at a Department of Defense organization in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area. Using background from both majors, McEwen collaborated in a group of about 20 students from schools across the nation, including “some of MIT’s and Harvard’s brightest,” to tackle problems of national importance. The students worked in groups with guidance from mentors throughout the organization.
“The problems we were given were not watered down in any way,” notes McEwen. “These were problems that would have been worked on — or in some cases already had been attempted — by organization personnel.”
In the program, the organization’s premier one for undergraduates, students spoke with important personnel and briefed the director. This was a particular privilege, notes McEwen, given that the director regularly communicates with the President of the United States.
“The individuals who work to keep America and Americans safe bear an awesome responsibility, but I feel more confident than ever in those working for our interests,” he adds. “The people I worked with are committed to their jobs, to keeping Americans safe as best they know how, without the rivalries and deception found in much of contemporary politics. I have a real respect for these individuals now, and I hope that America can appreciate them for their work.”
The experience gave McEwen a renewed sense of patriotism, he says, and excitement in knowing that the academic areas he enjoys have important and interesting applications in careers.
A graduate of Twin Valley High School, McEwen is president of Pi Mu Epsilon, the mathematics honor society, participates in mathematics competitions, and is a member of Upsilon Pi Epsilon, the computer science honor society. He also performs in the Pep Band and Jazz Band and with The Chorduroys, a student cappella group. He serves as a tutor, a teaching assistant in the math department, and an usher and box office employee at the Williams Center for the Arts.
Chidyagwai participated in REU again this summer, studying a structure that he compares to a snowflake in research with Cliff Reiter, professor of mathematics. He grew quasicrystalline structures and analyzed their cellular automa growth. The quasicrystalline model starts off as an initial cell of ice that expands when placed next to other cells. The ice cell grows by using water from the other cells.
“A cellular automaton is a collection of colored cells on a grid that evolves in a discrete number of steps according to rules based on the states of neighboring cells,” explains Chidyagwai.
For the purpose of their research, however, real values for the cells were used as opposed to discrete ones.
“The models are deterministic, unlike traditional models, which are heavily dependent upon randomness,” says Reiter.
Chidyagwai and Reiter worked together in REU through Lafayette’s distinctive EXCEL Scholars program, in which students conduct research with faculty while earning a stipend. The program has helped to make Lafayette a national leader in undergraduate research. Many of the more than 160 students who participate each year share their work through articles in academic journals and/or conference presentations.
“Lafayette’s support for work of this type is unmatched by anything I am aware of,” says Reiter.
They learned more about the diverse growth pattern of the snowflake-like structure and studied it to learn more about parallel algorithms, which they created in the laboratory. Chidyagwai and Reiter used conanical projection to generate graphs that they then used to make quasicryastalline structures on which the quasicrystal growth was modelled. They designed experiments that changed the parameters of the quasicrystalline structure. This allowed them to study their effect on the structure’s growth.
“We experimented with different patterns of growth,” Chidyagwai says. “Our research was very demanding on computing power, and one of the things we were able to do was to develop algorithms that can work effectively.”
Working side by side with Reiter was a learning experience for Chidyagwai, who considered him a mentor.
“Most of the time, we discussed concepts together in the lab and then implemented them. It was more one-to-one, and as a result it was much different from the in-class experience,” he says. “We have become more like friends.”
“Prince is extraordinarily effective at working independently in the computer lab,” Reiter says. “He has gained enough experience so that he often anticipated my questions. We had a very productive working relationship.”
Chidyagwai hopes to become an applied mathematician, and says his summer experience allowed him to utilize the capabilities he has developed at Lafayette.
“I think working on this project has given me an idea of what it is like to apply math to real-life situations.”
In addition to REU work with McEwen and Gordon, Chidyagwai’s previous research projects include an independent study in statistics.
“For me, research has been the biggest thing,” he says. “I feel like I have an idea of what it will be like in graduate school in terms of doing independent work.”
Chidyagwai is vice president of Pi Mu Epsilon and a math peer tutor and lab proctor. He is also a member of the International Students Association, the student chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery, and the Mathematics Club.
In 2003, Chidyagwai won the Carolyn Van Dyke Prize in Computer Science and placed third in the team Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges Mathematics Competition in 2002.
In a Software Engineering class, he worked with students to create a basic version of The SIMS, a game in which users manipulate groups of simulated people in various scenarios and watch the effects of their input.
As a national leader in undergraduate research, Lafayette sends one of the largest contingents to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research each year. Forty-two students were accepted to present their work at the last annual conference in April.
Marquis Scholar Robert McEwen ’05 researched elliptical curves and short periods with Clifford Reiter, professor of mathematics, in the NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program.