数学诊所的历史

Harvey Mudd College’s engineering department began the 诊所 program in 1963. It was called a “clinic” because it gave students experience in engineering as practiced by professional engineers, just as a medical clinic provides interns with experience in actual medical practice. 当时, providing undergraduate students with the opportunity to participate in real-world research was extremely rare; such opportunities were usually reserved for graduate school or for a new graduate’s first on-the-job experience.

到1972年秋天, the 工程 诊所 had been in 操作 for eight years 和 had proved itself to be an efficient 和 well-regarded means of involving undergraduate students in open-ended projects that originated in industrial settings.

As funding was obtainable for more projects than engineering faculty were available to supervise, faculty from other departments began assisting with the supervision of some 诊所 projects.

同一时期(1970-1972年), funds from the Sloan Foundation had been used to support Professor Stavros Busenberg 和 visiting professor William Hall in teaching an experimental seminar in applied mathematics. This seminar centered around the participants working on problems of current interest in industry, 类似于诊所项目的方法. The success of the seminar encouraged the applied-mathematics faculty – especially Professors Busenberg 和 Robert 保华 – to decide that it was both desirable 和 feasible for 诊所 projects that were selected 和 supervised by mathematicians to become a feature of the mathematics curriculum.

数学系的系主任, 约翰Greever, 在院长的支持下, 雅各布·弗兰克尔, established the 数学诊所 despite some initial opposition both within 和 outside the department. 几个月后, 各种结构细节, 操作, 预算是协商好的, 最终获得了行政审批.

1973年:第一个数学诊所

The first 数学诊所 project was scheduled for the fall semester of 1973. Busenberg教授, 那是他作为非终身助理教授的最后一年, volunteered to supervise this first project as an overload to his assigned teaching schedule. The project was funded by Bell 和 Howell 研究 Laboratories in Pasadena.

Work on the project was carried out by a team of three HMC students during the fall semester, 春天还有两个, 和 resulted in a well-received mathematical model of scintillation phenomena in rear-projection screens.

从一开始, it was clear that while the 工程 诊所 provided an excellent model on which to build, the more abstruse nature of mathematics projects would typically require greater involvement 和 guidance from the faculty advisor(s).

与克莱蒙特研究生院合作

The Claremont Graduate School (CGS; now Claremont Graduate University), 谁的数学教师主要在纯数学领域, 开始提供博士学位.D. 1969年的数学. By 1972 there was substantial concern about diminishing employment prospects for young mathematicians in non-applied areas, 和 a concommitant change in funding for graduate programs in such areas.

The CGS mathematics department met this challenge by shifting its emphasis to a master’s program in applied mathematics. As a means of supporting this new program 和 assisting the CGS mathematicians with their financial problems, HMC offered to enlarge the 数学诊所 into a joint 操作. This new joint 诊所 structure was in place for the academic year 1974–1975 和 Professor Greever of HMC 和 Professor Jerome Spanier of CGS were its co-directors.

To avoid confusing prospective clients (who were primarily approached by the HMC Development Office), the facade of a single joint CGS/HMC 数学诊所 was created, 尽管每个机构实际上都保持着自己的运作, 行政程序, 和预算. 作为支持研究生项目的进一步手段, HMC began the practice of awarding stipends to a few CGS students who would then act as team leaders for HMC projects.

1974年秋天, 我们的第二个诊所项目是由诺斯罗普公司赞助的, 由HMC的保华教授指导, 由一组HMC学生和一名CGS学生完成.

1975年春季学期，我们有两个诊所 projects 和 CGS completed its first 诊所 project with Professor Spanier supervising. 联合诊所的运作一直持续到1980年, 当HMC和CGS诊所完全独立时.

成功的历史

自数学诊所项目成立以来, there have been between 两个 和 five 诊所 projects every semester. Over a hundred projects have been completed, supervised by at least thirty different faculty members.

我们与许多不同的赞助商合作过, many of whom have returned for additional projects or for refinements of previous projects. Projects have been conducted jointly with the physics 和 engineering departments 和 have drawn students from every major on campus including our own joint majors in mathematics 和 computer science 和 数学生物学. The mathematics department has always enjoyed a strong relationship with Mudd’s computer-science department 和 our 诊所 programs have often been managed in t和em.

赞助商包括企业家和国家实验室, 国防承包商, 非营利性公司. 这些项目研究了天体动力学的各个方面, 纳米技术, 数学生物学, 数据挖掘, 数学金融学, 人工智能, 密码学, 犯罪学, 以及竞技体育的数学. In short, our 诊所 projects have spanned the breadth of mathematics 和 its applications.

数学诊所 program alumni have gone on to start businesses, 赚(也赔)数百万美元, 和, 也许最重要的是, 在当今许多项目的赞助中发挥作用. We are grateful for their support 和 together we will ensure that the 数学诊所 will thrive for many years to come.

年	导演
2022年至今	Talithia威廉姆斯
2019–2022	Darryl勇
2015–2019	维情顾
2010–2014	苏珊Martonosi
2009(秋季)	维情顾
2008–2009	阿方索卡斯特罗
2007–2008	安德鲁Bernoff
2006–2007	维情顾
1999–2006	迈克尔·R·拉夫
1993–1999	罗伯特·L. 保华
1992–1993	亨利·克里格
1990–1992	达沃N. Busenberg
1985–1990	罗伯特·L. 保华
1984–1985	达沃N. Busenberg
1981–1984	罗伯特·L. 保华
1980–1981	达沃N. Busenberg
1978–1980	罗伯特·L. 保华 (HMC)和Jerome Spanier (CGS) -联合诊所
1977–1978	考特尼年代. Coleman (HMC)和Jerome Spanier (CGS) -联合诊所
1975–1977	罗伯特·L. 博雷利(HMC)和杰罗姆·斯潘尼尔(CGS) -联合诊所
1974–1975	约翰·格里弗(HMC)和杰罗姆·斯潘尼尔(CGS) -联合诊所
1973–1974	约翰Greever