I am incredibly privileged to supervise the Kinnaird Institute Research Experience, a unique, internally funded, summer undergraduate math research experience conducted on campus at Millsaps. Each year, a group of Millsaps college undergraduate students are selected to participate on a competitive basis. Each summer’s program is centered around a core topic of active mathematical research, from which multiple group and individual projects organically splinter. We work full days (morning sessions 9am-noon, hour break for lunch, afternoon sessions 1-4pm) Monday-Thursday, as well as morning sessions on Friday. Morning sessions are focused on mini-lectures, problem sessions, progress reports, and group brainstorming, while afternoon sessions are focused on independent work. Participants are provided with:
- On-campus housing
- A stipend
- Occasional group dinners and outings
- Opportunities and funding to travel to conferences and present their research
All funding for the program is provided by the Kinnaird Endowment, gifted to the Millsaps College Department of Mathematics.
Summer 2024
Topic: Forbidden differences and maximum cliques
Participants (all Millsaps undergraduates, ordered alphabetically): Chris Dean, Haley Havard, Elizabeth Hawkins, Patch Heard
Graduate Assistant: Andrew Lott
PAPERS
- Notes and computations on forbidden differences (in preparation)
Summer 2023
Topic: The sum-product problem, and related questions
Participants (all Millsaps undergraduates, ordered alphabetically): Ginny Ray Clevenger, Haley Havard, Patch Heard, Brittany Wilson
Graduate Assistant: Andrew Lott
PAPERS
- The sum-product problem for small sets (all participants, Andrew Lott, and Alex Rice), Involve, vol. 18 (2025), no. 1, 165-180. (arXiv)
Summer 2022
Topic: Congruence covering systems and integer tilings
Participants (all Millsaps undergraduates, ordered alphabetically): Raj Agrawal, Prarthana Bhatia, Kratik Gupta, Powers Lamb, Andrew Lott, Christine Rose Ward
PAPERS
- Computations and observations on congruence covering systems (all participants and Alex Rice), INTEGERS Volume 24A (2024): Proceedings of the Integers 2023 Conference, Paper A1. (arXiv)
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
- Andrew Lott, Computations and observations on congruence covering systems, MAA LA/MS Sectional Meeting, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, March 2023 (First place, student paper competition), and Millsaps \(\beta\beta\beta\) research symposium, April 2023 (First place, best presentation)
Summer 2021
Topic: Ramsey theory and arithmetic combinatorics
Participants (all Millsaps undergraduates, ordered alphabetically): Vishal Balaji, Powers Lamb, Andrew Lott, Dhruv Patel, Sakshi Singh, Christine Rose Ward
PAPERS
- The pigeonhole principle and multicolor Ramsey numbers (all participants and Alex Rice), Involve vol. 15 (2022), no. 5, 857-884. (arXiv)
- Schur’s theorem in integer lattices (Vishal Balaji, Andrew Lott, Alex Rice), INTEGERS vol. 22 (2022), Paper A62. (arXiv)
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
- Andrew Lott, Schur’s theorem in integer lattices, MAA LA/MS Sectional Meeting, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, LA, March 2022. (First place in student paper competition)
Summer 2019
Topic: The Erdős distinct distances problem
Participants (all Millsaps undergraduates, ordered alphabetically): Vajresh Balaji, Olivia Edwards, Anne Marie Loftin, Solomon Mcharo, Lo Phillips, Bineyam Tsegaye
PAPERS
- Sets in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) determining \(k\) taxicab distances (all participants and Alex Rice), Involve vol. 13 (2020), no. 3, 487-509. (arXiv)
- Lattice configurations determining few distances (all participants and Alex Rice), INTEGERS vol. 20 (2020), Paper A86. (arXiv)
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
- All six participants presented on their research at the Millsaps College \(\beta\beta\beta\) Research Symposium in February 2020, with Anne Marie Loftin winning an award for her presentation.
- Bineyam Tsegaye, Sets in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) determining one taxicab distance, MAA LA/MS Sectional Meeting, Loyola University of New Orleans, February 2020.