MATH 402 Mathematical Modeling in Business, Industry, and Government
The PIC Math course will prepare students for industrial careers by engaging them in student group research problems that come directly from industry. The centerpiece of this course is a semester-long data analysis project, where students in small teams (3-5) will work on a real data-driven problem from Business, Industry, or Government (BIG). Industry data and an industry-relevant problem will be provided to the students by a liaison from BIG. Students will use in-class meeting times to discuss the definition and parameters of the problem, strategy, mathematical techniques, and ideas for solutions. Some classroom time will be spent introducing and learning document preparation software (e.g., LaTex), basic commands and statistical operations in programming languages such as R and Python, and practice in presentation skills. Groups will work together in and outside of class towards a data-analysis oriented solution of the problem, and will provide an end-of-semester 8-10 page written report and poster on the problem, techniques, methods, and solution.