The Duluth REU
In the summer of 1992 I attended the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. The program was extremely rewarding to me, and I recommend it to any math major interested in finding out what doing research is like. All of Duluth's excellence and success is due to one remarkable person, Professor Joseph A. Gallian. When Joe picked me up at the airport in June, he said to me, "There are two things that go into making a successful REU. First you need good students who are going to work hard. That's your job. Second you need to give them the right questions. That's my job, you see." That is the complete ethos of the Duluth REU. Joe prepares everything: he gets six really sharp students, some good open graph theory problems, beautiful accommodations (complete with kitchen), and throws them all together on the UMD campus.

The rest is entirely up to the students. There are no schedules, no guidelines, no restrictions; even better, there's not that much to do in Duluth. So you spend ten weeks thinking about your problem and bouncing ideas off of your fellow researchers, who are lots of help. Every Monday you give an informal presentation to Joe and the group on anything you've come up with during the week; Joe tells Erdos stories. On Wednesdays, Joe takes everyone to do something crazy and beautiful: rafting, kayaking, climbing, or power picnicking along lake Superior, all the while telling amazing stories about past REU's and past lives. The rest of the time is totally free, and with some effort you can get a whole lot of math done. Graph theory is an ideal topic for the program because it so accessible and beautiful, and because there is a huge amount of unexplored room to investigate. Finding problems and asking your own questions is not difficult and very fruitful. None of the participants this summer had prior knowledge of graph theory, yet by the end of the summer, everyone submitted one or two papers to graph theory journals for publication. Duluth provides a relaxing environment, great resources, and the time to concentrate intensely on really good problems. To get more information and an application, email to Professor Gallian at jgallian@ub.d.umn.edu. I am also happy to answer any other questions you have.
--Matteo Paris (paris@math)