3. Postdoctoral Program - MSRI

enefit from immediate discussion and resolution. At the final staff meeting, individual student
performances were discussed at length.
14. End-of-Program Evaluation
Each MSRI-UP student was required to complete a comprehensive, end-of-program, online
evaluation. The evaluation form had both year-to-year formative evaluation questions designed
for soliciting feedback in order to improve future institutes and summative-evaluation questions
to measure the effectiveness of MSRI-UP in accomplishing the program objectives. The
quantitative results of the end-of-program evaluation are provided in Appendix A.
Post-program conversations between the MSRI-UP staff and the Directors indicated that
the staff felt that the institute was successful in accomplishing its objectives.
15. Post-Summer Conferences
MSRI-UP has a substantial post-summer component. Students are provided funding to attend
academic conferences to present their research. In addition, each year the onsite director keeps
students informed of conference opportunities and funding sources for attending such
conferences.
Indeed, 15 of the program’s 17 students, representing all 6 research project teams,
presented their research at the 2010 SACNAS National Conference in Anaheim, California, in
September-October, 2010. Six students, representing 4 of the research project teams, presented
their work at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in New Orleans, Louisiana, in January, 2011.
Students have also presented work at their home institutions and regional mathematics
conferences.
During the joint meetings at the Mathematical Association of America (MAA)
Undergraduate Student Poster Session, 3 of the four MSRI-UP posters that were presented were
awarded prizes. The one group that did not win an award at the joint meetings was one of our 3
prize-winning groups at the SACNAS conference three months prior. Between these two
prominent national showcases of undergraduate mathematics research, 5 of the MSRI-UP’s 6
project teams were honored with prizes.
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