Math Models
Mathematical Models I & II comprise a senior level capstone course for Applied Mathematics and Computer Science majors at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Students work in groups on independent research projects, which are presented to the department during a fall and spring models colloquium held at the end of each semester. As part of their capstone experience the students also produce write-ups of their projects which have been assembled here into the annual math models symposium. Most (but not all) of the projects deal with some aspect of mathematical modeling. An important objective of the course is to have students be able to integrate their knowledge acquired in undergraduate courses with some real-world applications of mathematics, statistics and computer science.
Since these projects are by the students, they appear in an unedited form. Each represents an effort to delve into the research literature about some topic of interest chosen by the students themselves and to construct an understanding of that topic along with a rendering of it in terms accessible to their peers. No claims to originality are made although the projects often reflect a creative synthesis of the existing research. The students are advised to carefully cite all references for each source they use and any oversights may be regarded as unintentional.