Lewis University math major scores outstanding research award

Lewis University junior mathematics major, Miles Mena, was honored with the Illinois Section of the Mathematical Association of America Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award at the Illinois Section of the Mathematical Association of America’s 2022 Annual Conference at Millikin University in Decatur.

The award honored Mena for his presentation and paper on the research conducted this past summer at an REU with collaborators Isabel Trindade, Natalie Jean-Michel and Jonathan Figueroa Reyes, under the mentorship of Liyang Zhang and Zhanar Berikkyzy.

The project utilized graph theory, probability and combinatorics to derive the probability of obtaining a spanning tree on a variety of graph families.

While participating in this research, Mena developed a code to analyze small enough graphs to generate data which led to the discovery of a relationship to a problem in combinatorics. He created a bijection between the spanning tree problem and the combinatorics problem that validated the group’s results so that we could extend the theorem to more complex graphs.

Mena also has conducted two different research projects under the mentorship of Amanda Harsy, associate professor of mathematics, as part of the Lewis University Dr. James Girard Summer Undergraduate Research Experience and also as part of the Council of Undergraduate Research in Mathematics.

Mena also serves as a peer-mentor as part of the Promotion of Underrepresented Minorities in Academic STEM (PUMA-STEM) Alliance and tutors at the ECaMS Study Tables.