Emory Math Directed Reading Program

The directed reading program (DRP) pairs motivated undergraduates with graduate students to learn a topic together. Please see below for a list of sample and past courses and their descriptions. Undergraduates with questions about the program or suggestions for future topics should email me, as should graduate students interested in mentoring.

Spring 2024 DRP information

Program description and sample topics

How to apply: Interested undergraduates will fill out a short application form. When applying, you will propose a topic you would like to study; see the sample topics above for inspiration, but do not feel limited by them! Applicants will be notified of a decision shortly thereafter and registered in advance of the add/drop/swap deadline. If you have questions, please reach out to me by email; or you can reach out to Alex Dunbar by email.

Credit and expectations: Course credit will be offered to participating undergraduates, in the form of a 1-credit directed study course! The grading basis for this course is S/U. To obtain a satisfactory grade, participating students are expected to engage with the selected text independently, meet weekly with their mentor to discuss the material, and give a short presentation to their peers at the end of the semester.

Past DRP topics

Fall 2023

• The Stochastic Processes of Mathematical Finance
  • Student: Mason Wang
  • Mentor: Mitchell Scott
• Elementary Number Theory
  • Student: Sarah Daly
  • Mentor: Roberto Hernandez
• Stochastic Optimization
  • Student: Fatim Majumder
  • Mentor: Katie Keegan
• Iterative Methods for Deblurring Images
  • Student: Yizhou Chen
  • Mentor: Mitchell Scott
• Geometry from Axioms
  • Student: Ian Hogben
  • Mentor: Maxwell Auerbach
• Graph Coloring
  • Student: Jiuru Lyu
  • Mentor: Bryce Frederickson
• Riemannian manifolds
  • Student: Mayrra Sardjito
  • Mentor: Guangqiu Liang
• Mathematical Physics
  • Student: Ivan Wang
  • Mentor: Ylli Andoni
• Introduction to Commutative Algebra
  • Student: Jingchen NI
  • Mentor: Ariella Lee

Spring 2023

• Analysis on manifolds
  • Student: Max Yang
  • Mentor: Ylli Andoni
• Category Theory
  • Student: Sumedh Kanolkar
  • Mentor: Rohan Nair
• Clutch hitting
  • Student: Aileen He
  • Mentor: Christopher Keyes
• Computational algebraic geometry
  • Student: Ian Hogben
  • Mentor: Andrew Kobin
• Computational number theory
  • Student: Krish Surana
  • Mentor: Alexis Newton
• Convex geometry
  • Student: Judy Hao
  • Mentor: Alex Dunbar
• Elementary number theory
  • Student: Leo Mokriski
  • Mentor: Jasmine Camero
• Linear algebra for data science
  • Student: Julia Hu
  • Mentor: Ben Yellin
• Model theory
  • Student: Sasha Ustilovsky
  • Mentor: Sean Longbrake
• Stockwell transform
  • Student: Yasasvi Josyula
  • Mentor: Mahmoud Zeydabadi

Fall 2022

• Computational number theory
  • Student: Zachariah Dawood
  • Mentor: Alexis Newton
• Fourier analysis
  • Student: Jared Darrow
  • Mentor: Guangqiu Liang
• Manifolds
  • Student: Matthew Ortega
  • Mentor: Ylli Andoni
• Concrete algebra
  • Student: Jafer Hasnain
  • Mentor: Alex Dunbar
• Set theory
  • Student: Harper Wang
  • Mentor: Shilpi Mandal

Spring 2022

• Commutative algebra
  • Student: Hayden Truong
  • Mentor: Ariella Lee
• Computational algebra
  • Students: Cecilia Garcia, Siwei Xu
  • Mentor: Alex Dunbar
• Math for computer graphics
  • Student: Zoe Ji
  • Mentor: Abbey Julian
• Number theory
  • Student: Meg Ruder
  • Mentor: Shilpi Mandal
• Numerical methods and cryptography
  • Student: Catherine Baker
  • Mentor: Riti Bahl
• PDE-constrained optimization
  • Student: Judy Hao
  • Mentor: Ben Yellin
• Percolation theory
  • Student: Michael Liu
  • Mentor: Alexander Clifton
• Sabermetrics
  • Student: Ezra Arovas
  • Mentor: Christopher Keyes

Fall 2021 (course descriptions)

• Algebraic number theory, with Shilpi Mandal
• Computational algebra, with Alex Dunbar
• Elliptic curves, with Christopher Keyes
• From ODEs to PDEs, with Irving Martinez
• Introduction to commutative algebra, with Ariella Lee
• Percolation theory, with Alexander Clifton
• Set theory, with Rohan Nair

Spring 2021 (course descriptions)

• p-adic numbers, with Christopher Keyes
• The circle method, with Alexander Clifton

Steering Committee

The DRP is currently organized by graduate students Alex Dunbar and Shilpi Mandal, with faculty advisor David Borthwick. If you are interested in joining the committee, please reach out!