the Directed Reading Program

For Mentors

• What are the things I am expected to do as a DRP mentor? There are essentially only three things that you are required to do as a DRP mentor, anything beyond that (while encouraged) is your prerogative.
  • The first thing you will need to do, is help facilitate the choosing of a topic by your assigned mentee. They will most likely have a rough idea (some more specific than others) of what they want to do, but it is your job to solidify this idea and to curb any unreasonable goals (e.g. someone who has taken only Math 2243 wanting to learn p-adic Hodge Theory).
  • Once this is done, you will need to oversee the learning of this topic with your mentee. Generically, this means guiding your student through the book and/or papers that you have decided to read. This will entail helping lay out a reasonable timetable for the students to follow. It will also involve meeting with your student at least once a week, to answer any questions they may have. That said, this is a free-form process that is ultimately left up to the mentor/mentee pair. A pair may decide that the mentee should present material at the weekly meeting, or they may just treat the time as a general Q&A session. These more fine-point details are best determined by each pair.
  • Lastly, you will need to assist the student in preparation with their end-of-term presentation. This could entail several things, depending upon the particular mentee. Invariably, you will help them organize the general layout of their presentation: what to talk about, appropriate assumptions of background for the intended audience, etc. But, depending on the previous experience your mentee has with giving math presentations, you may have them give practice talks to you (this is highly recommended), or help them with $\LaTeX$ if they decide to do a beamer presentation.
• What is the expected time commitment? Generally, a mentor/mentee pair will meet for at least one hour per week. Any longer than that is entirely a decision made by an individual mentor/mentee pair. As discussed in the previous question, a mentor is expected to help their mentee prepare for their end-of-term presentation. Usually, this involves no more than three hours of work for the mentor, between brainstorming ideas with their mentee, to watching a practice presentation or two, etc.

For Mentees

• What are the things that I am expected to do as an undergraduate participant? While the DRP is a program intentionally designed to provide a personalized experience for every undergraduate, we have some general expectations for students. Since we have a limited number of spots, we take these expectations seriously.
  • Mentors and undergraduates have weekly meetings discussing their progress, with graduate students providing feedback and advice on the material covered. The specifics of these meetings is left up to the individual preferences of a mentor/mentee pair. Each pair should meet for at least one hour each week, but mentees and mentors are welcome to meet for more than an hour per week if desired.
  • Students should expect to commit at least 2 hours a week working on their DRP individually. This time can be spent reading, solving problems, or preparing for weekly meetings. Each mentor/mentee pair will decide on specific expectations for weekly preparation and study at the beginning of the semester.
  • Giving a mathematical presentation is a vital skill in academic mathematics, and the act of presenting also solidifies the presenter’s knowledge of the math presented. Consequently, a key responsibility of DRP participants is to prepare, practice, and deliver a 10-12 minute presentation at the end of the term in front of the other mentor/mentee pairs. The presentation should cover some main point or concept related to the mentee’s DRP project. Mentors will help their respective mentees plan and practice this presentation near the end of the semester.

Note that all of the above expectations are only the minimum expected of all participants. Anything more than this is determined on an individual basis by a mentee and their mentor. For instance, we anticipate that there will be a number of very enthusiastic students that wish to do individual study for more than two hours per week.