SPUR

SPUR, the Summer Program in Undergraduate Research of the MIT Mathematics Department, is a program for MIT undergraduates founded in 1996 by Professor Hartley Rogers. The current director is Professor David Jerison.

SPUR is open to all MIT undergraduates, not just math majors. Up to 10 undergraduates are supported each summer, the large majority in the summer after their first or second year at MIT. SPUR is often their first taste of mathematical research. To qualify, students are expected to be fluent in mathematical reasoning and to possess a lively interest in mathematics and a serious desire to try out and develop their research abilities and skill at communication.

Students in the program work full time for six weeks on an original research problem. Each undergraduate is paired with a graduate student mentor. Undergraduate and mentor meet together about an hour each weekday. During the first few days, the undergraduate and mentor identify one or more suitable problems to work on. In the final days of the program, the undergraduate writes a short paper (about 10 pages) describing his or her progress and presents a 20-minute talk to the mentors, to the other undergraduates in SPUR, and to a panel of faculty members. Each week during the program, the entire group of undergraduates and mentors meets for a seminar and discussion with a faculty member.

Rogers Prize

After the final presentation, the faculty panel awards the Rogers Prize to the best student-mentor team or teams. The prize was funded in honor of Professor Rogers by his family.

Past Projects

Abstracts of past research projects, participants, and winners of the Rogers Prize are [here] (this link will be coming soon).

Dates

Applications are due each year around the end of February. The program lasts six week, usually starting the last week of June and ending in very early August. MIT undergraduates can find further details and a very short application here).