Combinatorics with Steve Butler
Possibly more TBA
Domestic travel support to Ames, IA in summer 2026 and MathFest 2026 in Boston, MA
Housing in campus dorms and some meals (lunches and dinners during the week)
All undergraduate student participants will receive a stipend of $4400 ($550 per week)
Undergraduate students who will still be enrolled in bachelor's or associate's degree program in Fall 2026
Must be 18 years old by June 1, 2026 (** in some cases this can be waived with additional paperwork; contact the organizers)
There will be 1-2 slots which will be available for non-US Citizens and Permanent Residents currently studying at a US-based institution. International participants might require a visa to participate in the program, the REU will not pay for any costs associated with obtaining a visa, but are willing to help write a letter of support if selected to participate.
The REU program at Iowa State runs (roughly) every other year and has been running for about twenty years. Participants spend six (previously, eight) weeks working on research projects coming from a variety of mathematical areas, such as graph theory, numerical analysis, linear algebra, mathematical biology, probability, computational mathematics, logic, and dynamical systems. The topics for any individual summer are determined by the research mentors which primarily come from the Department of Mathematics at Iowa State University (ISU).
Students will work in collaborative teams with about three to five undergraduate members as part of active research groups during the summer. There is no coursework or workshop associated with the REU; the individual groups will provide relevant backgrounds to their group members as needed at the beginning of the REU, with the bulk of the REU consisting of students engaged in research with regular meeting with their mentors. Note that project mentors select their team.
In addition to the research program there will be regular professional development which includes topics such as how to use LaTeX, basics of SAGE, how to give presentations, preparing for graduate school, careers outside of academia, dealing with collaborators, mental health, and more.
At the end of the summer program, each group will produce a writeup of their results, a poster, and a presentation. Many projects subsequently submit papers for publication and present the results of their research at conferences.
We encourage all eligible participants to apply.
Questions about the REU program at Iowa State University can be directed to reumath@iastate.edu.
A listing of other REU programs is available online at mathreuprograms.org.