Miami University
The Summer Undergraduate Mathematical Science Research Institute (SUMSRI) is a program conducted under the guidance of Miami University's Department of Mathematics and Statistics. One of the goals of SUMSRI is to prepare participants for the rigor and pace of graduate school. The primary goal of the Institute is to provide approximately 15 nationally selected students with an intensive research experience augmented by formal and informal information sessions. To accomplish these goals, SUMSRI runs seven weeks on Miami University's campus in Oxford, Ohio. During these seven weeks, students participate in research seminars in mathematics or statistics. The program also includes a technical writing seminar, a GRE preparation workshop, two short courses on algebra and real analysis, and colloquium talks given by well known mathematical scientists.
Dennis Davenport received his PhD from Howard University in 1987, specializing in topological semigroups with applications to Ramsey Theory, and then joined the faculty at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He is currently an Associate Professor at Miami University.
At Miami University, Davenport developed the Summer Undergraduate Mathematical Science Research Institute (SUMSRI), an undergraduate research program which targets advanced mathematical science majors from underrepresented groups and women. Each summer, the program brings some 15 students to Oxford for research and enrichment experiences. He collaborated with several faculty members at Miami University to start the Mathematical Enrichment Program (MEP), which is modeled after Uri Treisman's calculus workshop project. Davenport was a Regional Director of the MAA Strengthening Underrepresented Minority Mathematics Achievement (SUMMA) program from 1991 to 2000 and currently directs the Miami University program of the Ohio Science and Engineering Alliance (OSEA). OSEA is part of the NSF Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program, which is designed to increase the number of members from underrepresented groups in mathematics, engineering and the sciences.
Davenport was a program director in the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2000-2002. While in DUE he worked on several programs including, Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI), Assessment of Student Achievement in Undergraduate Education (ASA), NSF Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars (DTS), Advance Technological Education (ATE), Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics Scholarships (CSEMS) and the Math Science Partnership Program (MSP). In the 2003-2004 academic year, he served as a Visiting Professor at the United States Military Academy in West Point.