Ross Mathematics Program
Encyclopedia
The Ross Mathematics Program is an intensive eight-week residential summer camp for high school students interested in mathematics. The program is currently run by Professor Daniel Shapiro and is based out of the Ohio State University
.
, who created the program at the University of Notre Dame
in 1957 and ran it every summer until 2000 when Dan Shapiro took over after Arnold Ross had health problems. The central goal of the Ross Program has always been to instruct and encourage bright young students in the art of abstract thinking and to inspire them to discover for themselves that abstract ideas are valuable and important. The program's motto has become: "Think deeply of simple things."
. Students attend daily lectures, participate in seminar groups, and work at their own pace through rigorous problem sets (which they receive in class every day). Students spend most of their time working on these sets, and, in doing so, gain an understanding both of number theory and the mathematical process itself. They investigate numerical patterns and draw conjectures based on their observations, and, later, revisit their ideas to prove them rigorously, and, finally, to generalize them to other contexts.
Students turn in problem sets to counselors as they complete them. Counselors review their students' work carefully and make detailed comments. There are no "grades" or anything similar; instead, counselors ask students to redo problems done incorrectly or incompletely, occasionally posing additional questions as mini-assignments for students to investigate.
Students who do well in the program may return for a second year, and many become junior counselors. Junior counselors finish the number theory sets, take advanced courses in topics such as group theory
, geometry
, and combinatorics
, and work with the counselors in encouraging and assisting younger students. Counselors, too, may take advanced courses. Mathematical activity outside the number theory core also includes lectures and short courses by guest speakers on a variety of topics.
Students, junior counselors, and counselors all live together in a single dormitory on the Ohio State campus. By working on and discussing mathematics together throughout the summer, the program participants become a close-knit "community of scholars." One of the goals of the program is to give high school students an experience similar to that of a research scientist or mathematician.
Counselors are college students or college-bound and most have had at least two years of experience in the program.
at Boston University
(created by alumni David Fried and Glenn Stevens) and the Texas State University Honors Summer Math Camp at Texas State University (created by alumnus Max Warshauer). Alumni with notable research achievements include Robert Coleman
, Brian Conrad
, Ira Gessel, David Harbater
, Jacob Lurie
, Davesh Maulik, Michael Mitzenmacher
, Jonathan Rogawski, Karl Rubin
, David Saltman, Lauren Williams, and Michael Zieve.
In 2001 and 2007, Ross Reunions were held at Ohio State, and every Ross alum was invited. The former was held to commemorate the founder, Arnold Ross, and raise funds to keep the program running. The latter was held in the summer of 2007, as the Fiftieth Anniversary of the program. Several guest lectures were held, covering topics such as math, meteorology, economics, mazes, graphics, and, not surprisingly, number theory.
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
.
History
The Ross Program is named after Professor Arnold RossArnold Ross
Arnold Ephraim Ross was a mathematician and educator who founded the Ross Mathematics Program at the Ohio State University.-Personal Life:...
, who created the program at the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
in 1957 and ran it every summer until 2000 when Dan Shapiro took over after Arnold Ross had health problems. The central goal of the Ross Program has always been to instruct and encourage bright young students in the art of abstract thinking and to inspire them to discover for themselves that abstract ideas are valuable and important. The program's motto has become: "Think deeply of simple things."
Program Overview
The core of the program for first year students is a single course in number theoryNumber theory
Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers. Number theorists study prime numbers as well...
. Students attend daily lectures, participate in seminar groups, and work at their own pace through rigorous problem sets (which they receive in class every day). Students spend most of their time working on these sets, and, in doing so, gain an understanding both of number theory and the mathematical process itself. They investigate numerical patterns and draw conjectures based on their observations, and, later, revisit their ideas to prove them rigorously, and, finally, to generalize them to other contexts.
Students turn in problem sets to counselors as they complete them. Counselors review their students' work carefully and make detailed comments. There are no "grades" or anything similar; instead, counselors ask students to redo problems done incorrectly or incompletely, occasionally posing additional questions as mini-assignments for students to investigate.
Students who do well in the program may return for a second year, and many become junior counselors. Junior counselors finish the number theory sets, take advanced courses in topics such as group theory
Group theory
In mathematics and abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as groups.The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as rings, fields, and vector spaces can all be seen as groups endowed with additional operations and...
, geometry
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
, and combinatorics
Combinatorics
Combinatorics is a branch of mathematics concerning the study of finite or countable discrete structures. Aspects of combinatorics include counting the structures of a given kind and size , deciding when certain criteria can be met, and constructing and analyzing objects meeting the criteria ,...
, and work with the counselors in encouraging and assisting younger students. Counselors, too, may take advanced courses. Mathematical activity outside the number theory core also includes lectures and short courses by guest speakers on a variety of topics.
Students, junior counselors, and counselors all live together in a single dormitory on the Ohio State campus. By working on and discussing mathematics together throughout the summer, the program participants become a close-knit "community of scholars." One of the goals of the program is to give high school students an experience similar to that of a research scientist or mathematician.
Counselors are college students or college-bound and most have had at least two years of experience in the program.
The Ross Legacy and Alumni
The program has incubated many great mathematicians, and a few alumni have created summer programs of their own. Such programs include PROMYSPROMYS
The Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists is a six-week number theory program currently under the direction of Professor Glenn Stevens at Boston University beginning in early July and ending in mid-August....
at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
(created by alumni David Fried and Glenn Stevens) and the Texas State University Honors Summer Math Camp at Texas State University (created by alumnus Max Warshauer). Alumni with notable research achievements include Robert Coleman
Robert F. Coleman
Robert F. Coleman is an American mathematician, and professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His primary research area is in number theory, with specific interest in p-adic analysis and arithmetic geometry...
, Brian Conrad
Brian Conrad
Brian Conrad , is an American mathematician and number theorist, working at Stanford University. Previously he was at the University of Michigan....
, Ira Gessel, David Harbater
David Harbater
David Harbater is an American mathematician, well known for his work in Galois theory, algebraic geometry and arithmetic geometry.-Life and work:...
, Jacob Lurie
Jacob Lurie
Jacob Alexander Lurie is an American mathematician, who is currently a professor at Harvard University.-Life:While in school, Lurie took part in the International Mathematical Olympiad, where he won a gold medal with a perfect score in 1994...
, Davesh Maulik, Michael Mitzenmacher
Michael Mitzenmacher
Michael D. Mitzenmacher is an American computer scientist working in algorithms. Heis professor of computer science in theSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University and area dean of computer science since July 2010.-Education:...
, Jonathan Rogawski, Karl Rubin
Karl Rubin
Karl Rubin is an American mathematician at University of California, Irvine as Thorp Professor of Mathematics. His research interest is in elliptic curves. He was the first mathematician to show that some elliptic curves over the rationals have finite Tate-Shafarevich groups...
, David Saltman, Lauren Williams, and Michael Zieve.
In 2001 and 2007, Ross Reunions were held at Ohio State, and every Ross alum was invited. The former was held to commemorate the founder, Arnold Ross, and raise funds to keep the program running. The latter was held in the summer of 2007, as the Fiftieth Anniversary of the program. Several guest lectures were held, covering topics such as math, meteorology, economics, mazes, graphics, and, not surprisingly, number theory.