Students in the math department will have some extra money to work with for the next five years. The department received a $3.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to try and combat the declining number of students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and math. The U.S. is in danger of falling behind other countries in mathematic and scientific research, according to the NSF Web site.The Vertical Integration of Research and Education grant is aimed at leveling the playing field between the U.S. and other countries.Past winners of the VIRGE grants include UCLA, Stanford, Tulane, the University of Chicago and the University of North Carolina.Professors in the math department have been applying for the grant since 1999.Two to five awards are given each year.”It is a boost for the name of LSU to get this award. We can get more and better students because we can offer them VIGRE fellowships,” said math professor and principal VIGRE investigator Gestur Olafsson.Olafsson said the majority of the money will be spent on students.The grant money is only available to students who are U.S. citizens. Exchange students and students studying abroad from other countries cannot benefit from the grant.Olafsson said the interest in mathematics decreased because many students don’t realize how many opportunities are open to mathematics graduates. “It’s hard to get a degree in mathematics,” Olafsson said. “It’s not so easy to motivate people to go into mathematics. It’s not very sexy.”A study called Trends in International Mathematics and Science conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics found that eighth grade students in Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan did better than students from the U.S. in standardized math test scores. The study compared the scores of students from 45 different countries.Olafsson said he thinks U.S. middle and high schools are not doing as good a job as these other countries. He said American schools usually start out better, but by the time students graduate from high school, they are behind students from other parts of the world.The number of math students at the University has actually increased during the past few years.Olafsson said the increase in enrollment is something “they really had to work on” to be considered for the grant. Total enrollment in the math department increased by 119 percent since 2000. Undergraduate enrollment increased by 147 percent.Olafsson said the extra money will free up some graduate students from teaching two and three semesters so they will have more time for research.The grant proposal outlines spending the money on giving undergraduates a wider choice of research experiences, encouraging graduate students’ interest in research and offering more fellowships. Some of the money will also go to recruit new students from Louisiana high schools.”We faculty members get very little of the money,” Olafsson said with a chuckle. —-Contact Jack LeBlanc at [email protected]