Help us help students!
Make a Donation
Program Highlights
SMCM Putnam Rally 2010 Rally Video
Dave Kung giving the 2010 MAA Undergraduate Lecture in Mathematics at the San Francisco Joint Meetings. The talk, which features musical excerpts that illustrate mathematical ideas, drew a standing-room-only crowd of 400 people.
Student Spotlight
The two rows of mathematics graduates during the 2009 graduation ceremony.
2007 SMCM Emerging Scholars with Ravi Vakil (bottom right) at MAA Headquarters
St. Mary's Emerging Scholars Program
In 2005, the MathCS Department established the Emerging Scholars Program (ESP) to provide an honors-level experience to well-prepared students in Calculus I and II. Every year we invite a diverse group of incoming students to apply to the program; those who are accepted earn one credit for participating in the program, in addition to the credits they receive for their concurrent Calculus course. Emerging Scholars are required to attend the ESP workshops, held Monday and Thursday evenings from 6pm-7:50, during which they work on challenging Calculus problems with the help of each other, student assistants (usually ESP alums), and a supervising faculty member. Additional events include trips to DC to see mathematics talks (see above), sailing outings, and meetings with visiting speakers.
An adaptation of Uri Treisman's work at UC-Berkeley and the University of Texas, our ESP aims to provide a fun, challenging experience to students who are interested in and prepared for Calculus. ESP students, like their counterparts at other institutions, tend to excel in Calculus, with grades better than non-ESP students. Many ESP alumni report building some of their closest friendships in the program and go on to major or minor in mathematics.
In 2009, the ESP at St. Mary's was expanded to include students in the Introduction to Computer Science course (COSC120). Students who participate in the CS ESP attend workshops on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6pm -7:50 where they work on interesting and challenging questions related to topics in the Introduction to Computer Science course with the help of each other, student assistants and a supervising faculty member. Our statistics have shown that CS ESP students earn better grades in COSC120 and COSC130 and are more likely to continue in the CS major or minor.
While participation in ESP is restricted, any interested student planning to take Calculus I or II (Math 151 or 152) or Computer Science I (Cosc 120) is eligible to apply. Please fill out the form below:
