Virtual Math Circle — Research Opportunities for High School Students
Virtual Math Circle — Research Opportunities for High School Students
Virtual Math Circle: Research Opportunities for High School Students
An advanced, university-level mathematics program where students collaborate with professional mathematicians on authentic research, producing publishable results and presenting in colloquium-style lectures.
- Grades 9–12
- Team size 3–6 students
- Outputs colloquium lecture
- Terms summer/fall/spring
Overview
Virtual Math Circle (VMC) immerses motivated high-school students (grades 9–12) in authentic, mentored mathematical research. In small teams of 3–6 students, participants study advanced topics, formulate and test conjectures, write proofs in LaTeX, and communicate results to a scholarly audience.
- Research-first structure. Students engage with primary sources, develop problem-solving techniques, and, where appropriate, run computational experiments.
- Close mentorship. Cohorts work with mathematicians drawn from LSU faculty, postdocs, and graduate students, and a network of collaborators at universities nationwide (e.g., Florida State University, Tougaloo College, Rice University, UNC–Chapel Hill, Oklahoma State, Augusta University, Georgia Tech, SMU, University of Kentucky, Tulane University).
- University-level content. Typical areas include graph theory, combinatorics, probability, number theory, and discrete optimization—well beyond standard high-school curricula.
- Scholarly communication. Every team produces a final report and delivers a 30–45-minute colloquium-style presentation; materials are archived for public reference.
- National and international reach. Applicants join from across the United States and select international locations.
Many teams continue beyond the initial session through the VMC Research Extension, preparing a paper or poster for presentation at LSU Discover Day. Limited financial assistance and travel support may be available.
VMC is a collaboration between the LSU Department of Mathematics and the LSU Gordon A. Cain Center for STEM Literacy.
How It Works
Offerings are scheduled term by term as mentor availability permits, and the meeting cadence varies by term:
- Summer: a compact 3-week intensive in which groups typically meet most weekdays (about 2–3 hours/day), culminating in a research colloquium.
- Fall/Spring: a distributed, semester-length format (e.g., 1–2 meetings per week) with interim milestones to accommodate school schedules; students who continue often prepare for presentation at LSU Discover Day in April.
Each session page lists dates, meeting cadence, prerequisites, and application details.
Current and Upcoming Sessions
Past SessionsAbstracts & Research Proposals
These are the web pages for each prior program. They list project abstracts, research proposals, mentors, and topics. They do not include the full artifacts (videos, slides, certificates)—use the Public Archives below for those.
Public Archives All Materials
A complete repository of all past VMC programs—including recordings, slides, posters, papers, certificates, and more. Use this when you want the full set of artifacts from previous cohorts.
Questions
See our FAQ and Contact page for answers about scheduling, tuition, topics, and more.