AMRE to expand into new disciplines, projects


Mariah Joyce
Editor in Chief

The Applied Methods Research Experience (AMRE) program is expanding to include students in disciplines other than math and computer science this year.

AMRE is a summer research opportunity wherein approximately 10 faculty-advised student teams work for eight weeks with clients in the area, according to Brett Woodard, associate director of Entrepreneurship and Experiential Learning, who helps coordinate the program.

Woodard said that these student teams are made up of 1-3 students and 1-2 faculty advisors, and they work full-time, completing the projects for their clients.

The program is headed by Professor of Mathematics John Ramsay and has historically been limited to opportunities involving math and computer science.

However, Ramsay said that he is looking to expand the program beyond these disciplines in the future.

In the past, the program has opened up to other disciplines when local businesses have approached AMRE with specific needs.

“We have done numerous projects for Goodyear Tire and Rubber,” said Ramsay. “When they asked if we could do chemistry projects I called the chemistry department and Dr. Sarah Sobeck came on board to advise projects for a couple of years. The same thing has happened in economics, business economics, physics and, most The Applied Methods Research Experience (AMRE) program is expanding to include students in disciplines other than math and computer science this year.

AMRE is a summer research opportunity wherein approximately 10 faculty-advised student teams work for eight weeks with clients in the area, according to Brett Woodard, associate director of Entrepreneurship and Experiential Learning, who helps coordinate the program.

Woodard said that these student teams are made up of 1-3 students and 1-2 faculty advisors, and they work full-time, completing the projects for their clients.

The program is headed by Professor of Mathematics John Ramsay and has historically been limited to opportunities involving math and computer science.

However, Ramsay said that he is looking to expand the program beyond these disciplines in the future.

In the past, the program has opened up to other disciplines when local businesses have approached AMRE with specific needs.

“We have done numerous projects for Goodyear Tire and Rubber,” said Ramsay. “When they asked if we could do chemistry projects I called the chemistry department and Dr. Sarah Sobeck came on board to advise projects for a couple of years. The same thing has happened in economics, business economics, physics and, most recently, linguistics.”

Ramsay added that AMRE has considered offering a wider range of summer projects for a long time, but that up until now, the main obstacle has just been not having enough time to dedicate to finding these kinds of opportunities in the community.

“Two years ago I proposed to Grant Cornwell that we use existing foundation funding to hire someone in A.P.E.X. to specifically cultivate projects outside of mathematics and computer science,” said Ramsay. That conversation led to the addition of Woodard to running the program.

AMRE currently has several leads from organizations in the area, and hope to have their projects for this summer confirmed by early March.

Students who are interested in applying for the program or learning more about it can find more information online at http://www.wooster.edu/academics/areas/mathematics/amre/.