SIAM Undergraduate Research Online Prepares Students for Career Publishing Endeavors

For students studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the rich realm of undergraduate research serves as a high-impact learning environment that transports them beyond the classroom and allows them to make original contributions to their disciplines. Research projects—during which students work on problems that align with their personal interests and possible career aspirations—have thus become essential components of many undergraduate programs. Applied and industrial mathematics undergraduates who partake in research learn to apply proper mathematical and computational techniques, hone their communication skills, write journalistic articles, and summarize methods and results. These writing tasks are also valuable learning experiences that help prepare students for higher education or postgraduate positions. SIAM Undergraduate Research Online (SIURO) is a web-based publication that encourages students to undergo this process by offering them a space to showcase their work.

SIURO was established in 2008 to publish high-quality undergraduate research in applied and computational mathematics. The publication covers a wide array of topics, including analysis, discrete mathematics, operations research, optimization, statistics, dynamical systems, modeling, and general computation. Student authors employ these methods in applications that pertain to a variety of fields, ranging from the physical and life sciences to finance and management.

One of SIURO’s primary objectives is to provide undergraduates with a platform where they can experience peer review procedures firsthand. Throughout the publication process, students write and submit manuscripts, serve as corresponding authors, generate responses to review reports, and communicate directly with members of the SIURO Editorial Board (industry experts and international faculty from top universities and liberal arts colleges with expertise in the publication’s broad-ranging fields). Faculty members, graduate students in Ph.D. tracks, or industry leaders review all submissions and produce referee reports, which provide important feedback. Student authors may also receive review reports that request minor and/or major revisions; they can choose to address and respond to these amendments and resubmit their work for reconsideration, as is typical with peer-reviewed publications.

In recent years, disease modeling has been a particularly popular research area for students. An example of a successful article is Emily Kelting’s 2018 paper about Toxoplasma gondii in cats, which can also affect pregnant women [1]. This work describes conditions that minimize the risks of parasite transfer from cats to other species (see Figure 1). Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 was a popular research area in 2020, and SIURO authors approached the topic with various techniques. All SIURO papers are open access and available online. 

SIURO will be undergoing several changes to its publication policies in 2021. Beginning in the spring of this year, all research mentors will now be listed as “project advisors” on published papers; proper citations of contributors will thus include project advisors as well as the undergraduate authors. In addition, Joanna Wares (University of Richmond) was appointed editor-in-chief of SIURO in January after serving as an associate editor for five years. She succeeds Luis Melara (Shippensburg University), who led the publication for the last six years. During his time as editor-in-chief, Melara systematized and simplified SIURO’s submission system to improve ease of use for submitters and reviewers. He even developed a system and criteria for review that ensures the accomplishment of SIURO’s goals: encouraging undergraduate research and providing an outlet for meritorious study.

References

[1] Kelting, E.K., Bannish, B.E., & Laverty, S.M. (2018). Toxoplasma gondii: A mathematical model of its transfer between cats and the environment. SIURO, 11, 270-284.