数学诊所的历史
Harvey Mudd College’s engineering department began the Clinic program in 1963. It was called a “clinic” because it gave students experience in engineering as practiced by professional engineers, just as a medical clinic provides interns with experience in actual medical practice. At the time, providing undergraduate students with the opportunity to participate in real-world research was extremely rare; such opportunities were usually reserved for graduate school or for a new graduate’s first on-the-job experience.
By the fall of 1972, the Engineering Clinic had been in operation for eight years and had proved itself to be an efficient and well-regarded means of involving undergraduate students in open-ended projects that originated in industrial settings.
As funding was obtainable for more projects than engineering faculty were available to supervise, faculty from other departments began assisting with the supervision of some Clinic projects.
同一时期(1970-1972年), funds from the Sloan Foundation had been used to support Professor Stavros Busenberg and visiting professor William Hall in teaching an experimental seminar in applied mathematics. This seminar centered around the participants working on problems of current interest in industry, 类似于诊所项目的方法. The success of the seminar encouraged the applied-mathematics faculty – especially Professors Busenberg and Robert Borrelli – to decide that it was both desirable and feasible for Clinic projects that were selected and supervised by mathematicians to become a feature of the mathematics curriculum.
数学系的系主任, John Greever, 在院长的支持下, Jacob Frankel, established the Mathematics Clinic despite some initial opposition both within and outside the department. 几个月后, 各种结构细节, operation, 预算是协商好的, 最终获得了行政审批.
1973年:第一个数学诊所
The first Mathematics Clinic project was scheduled for the fall semester of 1973. Professor Busenberg, 那是他作为非终身助理教授的最后一年, volunteered to supervise this first project as an overload to his assigned teaching schedule. The project was funded by Bell and Howell Research Laboratories in Pasadena.
Work on the project was carried out by a team of three HMC students during the fall semester, and two in the spring, and resulted in a well-received mathematical model of scintillation phenomena in rear-projection screens.
From the outset, it was clear that while the Engineering Clinic provided an excellent model on which to build, the more abstruse nature of mathematics projects would typically require greater involvement and guidance from the faculty advisor(s).
与克莱蒙特研究生院合作
The Claremont Graduate School (CGS; now Claremont Graduate University), 谁的数学教师主要在纯数学领域, began offering a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1969. By 1972 there was substantial concern about diminishing employment prospects for young mathematicians in non-applied areas, and a concommitant change in funding for graduate programs in such areas.
The CGS mathematics department met this challenge by shifting its emphasis to a master’s program in applied mathematics. As a means of supporting this new program and assisting the CGS mathematicians with their financial problems, HMC offered to enlarge the Mathematics Clinic into a joint operation. This new joint Clinic structure was in place for the academic year 1974–1975 and Professor Greever of HMC and Professor Jerome Spanier of CGS were its co-directors.
To avoid confusing prospective clients (who were primarily approached by the HMC Development Office), the facade of a single joint CGS/HMC Mathematics Clinic was created, 尽管每个机构实际上都保持着自己的运作, 行政程序, and budget. 作为支持研究生项目的进一步手段, HMC began the practice of awarding stipends to a few CGS students who would then act as team leaders for HMC projects.
In the fall of 1974, 我们的第二个诊所项目是由诺斯罗普公司赞助的, 由HMC的Borrelli教授指导, 由一组HMC学生和一名CGS学生完成.
1975年春季学期,我们有twoClinic projects and CGS completed its first Clinic project with Professor Spanier supervising. 联合诊所的运作一直持续到1980年, 当HMC和CGS诊所完全独立时.
A History of Success
自数学诊所项目成立以来, there have been between two and five Clinic projects every semester. Over a hundred projects have been completed, supervised by at least thirty different faculty members.
我们与许多不同的赞助商合作过, many of whom have returned for additional projects or for refinements of previous projects. Projects have been conducted jointly with the physics and engineering departments and have drawn students from every major on campus including our own joint majors in mathematics and computer science and mathematical biology. The mathematics department has always enjoyed a strong relationship with Mudd’s computer-science department and our Clinic programs have often been managed in tandem.
赞助商包括企业家和国家实验室, defense contractors, 非营利性公司. 这些项目研究了天体动力学的各个方面, nanotechnology, mathematical biology, data mining, mathematical finance, 人工智能, cryptography, criminology, 以及竞技体育的数学. In short, our Clinic projects have spanned the breadth of mathematics and its applications.
Mathematics Clinic program alumni have gone on to start businesses, 赚(也赔)数百万美元, and, 也许最重要的是, 在当今许多项目的赞助中发挥作用. We are grateful for their support and together we will ensure that the Mathematics Clinic will thrive for many years to come.
Years | Director |
---|---|
2022–Present | Talithia Williams |
2019–2022 | Darryl Yong |
2015–2019 | Weiqing Gu |
2010–2014 | Susan Martonosi |
2009 (fall) | Weiqing Gu |
2008–2009 | Alfonso Castro |
2007–2008 | Andrew Bernoff |
2006–2007 | Weiqing Gu |
1999–2006 | Michael R Raugh |
1993–1999 | Robert L. Borrelli |
1992–1993 | Henry A Krieger |
1990–1992 | Stavros N. Busenberg |
1985–1990 | Robert L. Borrelli |
1984–1985 | Stavros N. Busenberg |
1981–1984 | Robert L. Borrelli |
1980–1981 | Stavros N. Busenberg |
1978–1980 | Robert L. Borrelli (HMC)和Jerome Spanier (CGS) -联合诊所 |
1977–1978 | Courtney S. Coleman (HMC)和Jerome Spanier (CGS) -联合诊所 |
1975–1977 | Robert L. 博雷利(HMC)和杰罗姆·斯潘尼尔(CGS) -联合诊所 |
1974–1975 | 约翰·格里弗(HMC)和杰罗姆·斯潘尼尔(CGS) -联合诊所 |
1973–1974 | John Greever |
联系数学诊所项目
Math Clinic Director
塔利西亚·威廉姆斯教授
twilliams@lfkgw.com
909.607.1262
IT Analyst
梅丽莎Hernandez-Alvarez
mhernandezalvarez@lfkgw.com
909.607.3618