Covid-19 Analytics: Proposed Projects for Undergraduate Research
For many in academia Spring Break 2020 will be remembered as a turning point. At least for the foreseeable future we needed to find a new way to operate. We realized that our time would be used differently since national meetings and recreational travel w
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For many in academia Spring Break 2020 will be remembered as a turning point. At least for the foreseeable future we needed to find a new way to operate. We realized that our time would be used differently since national meetings and recreational travel would not be possible for a period of time. Was there any way we could eek something positive from this pandemic? Upon taking inventory it appeared that our new assets would be time to research, availability of students with whom to research, some new, interesting, and important topics to which we could apply math techniques, and an abundance of data. Looking back, we see the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly lived up to our expectations. It has created opportunities to showcase mathematical and statistical software as tools to utilize real life data for modeling and analysis. With Covid-19 as a constant threat, the wise course of action appeared to be isolation. But our isolation need not be unproductive. Through Zoom we were able to initiate undergraduate research with our students and colleagues to prepare several projects that will be useful in the undergraduate classroom. In this chapter, we will develop a series of projects that demonstrate the importance of quantitative modeling and analysis. The projects are all suitable for undergraduate research, in fact, some were developed with our summer researchers, others came from discussions with our colleagues. The projects will pose questions, that will challenge students to separate myth from facts. A unifying feature of our projects is that they ask students to investigate the questions using readily available software and data on the Covid-19 pandemic. Both authors are firm believers in the use of real data and available technology for modeling and analysis of real-life problems. Some of the projects are the results of the authors work with student researchers during the summer of 2020 and several others are created as part of the NSF funded grant # 1905246 titled “ Mathematics and Statistics Across the R. O. Abbasian (*) · J. T. Sieben Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Texas Lutheran University, Seguin, TX, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 A. Wonders (ed.) Math in the Time of Corona, Mathematics Online First Collections, https://doi.org/10.1007/16618_2020_19
R. O. Abbasian and J. T. Sieben
Curriculum: Empowering Non-STEM Students to Appreciate and Use Quantitative Modeling” . The goal of “ Mathematics and Statistics Across the Curriculum” project is to increase the use of mathematical and statistical modeling in mostly non-STEM fields. The desired impact is to transform the educational landscape so that students and faculty in the social sciences, applied studies, and selected STEM disciplines, build appreciation of quantitative methods and their utility in non-STEM fields. It is hoped that after a brief exposure to mathematical and statistical modeling using technology , the student will see the importance of the quantitat
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