Research opportunities and support for undergraduates


Research Opportunities

REU at UVA

Research Experiences for Undergraduates at the University of Virginia

At UVA Math Department

There is a number of faculty members interested in mentoring undergraduate research:

  • Darien Jade Farnham,   401 Kerchof Hall
    Research area: Dynamics, topology, logic, and geometric group theory
    Background needed: Preferably MATH 4430 and MATH 3354, possibly MATH 4770
    Availability: Summer 2025
    Project ideas: Applying model theoretic methods to study automorphism groups of manifolds, Dynamics of groups acting on S^1, Bass-Serre theory, The geometry of right-angled Artin groups

  • Peter Humphries,   324 Kerchof Hall
    Research area: Number theory
    Background needed: MATH 3340
    Availability: Fall 2025/Spring 2026

  • Thomas Koberda,   304 Kerchof Hall
    Research area: Group theory, mathematical logic and foundations, dynamical systems
    Background needed: Prerequisites depend on the topic, but generally a course in abstract algebra, advanced linear algebra, and real analysis would be required.
    Availability: Fall 2025, Spring 2026

  • J.D. Quigley,   331 Kerchof Hall
    Research area: Algebra, Topology
    Background needed: Abstract algebra, algebraic topology for some projects
    Availability: Fall 2025/Spring 2026

Outside the Department

There are opportunities to participate in mathematics research at the undergraduate level. In particular, the AMS has compiled a list of summer REUs (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) that are organized at various institutions throughout the US.


Research Support