Yale Bulletin
and Calendar

December 14, 1998-January 18, 1999Volume 27, Number 16




























ROME gives undergraduates the chance
to take part in hands-on research

Before she conducted research under the direction of Yale economist Donald Brown two years ago, Helen Hong '98 was absolutely set on pursuing a double major in math and economics. After completing her work, however, she decided to concentrate solely on math.

"Helen had not even considered going to grad school," recalls Brown, the Philip R. Allen Professor of Economics. "The work we did had a big influence on her." Today the Yale alumna is a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science.

Hong didn't know it at the time, but she was the first participant in what would become the Research Opportunities in Math & Economics -- or ROME -- program.

Funded through the Yale College Dean's Office, ROME engages students in ongoing scientific investigation, allowing them to participate in the kind of hands-on research they might not otherwise have the opportunity to pursue at the undergraduate level. By becoming directly involved in the ongoing work of a faculty member, students learn about the scientific method of inquiry, while gaining insight into their own career interests.

ROME is administered by Brown; Jean Lanjouw, associate professor of economics; and Stephen Miller, assistant professor of mathematics. It was Brown who approached Yale College Dean Richard H. Brodhead about establishing a program to promote research partnerships between faculty and undergraduates, similar to the kind the economist had encountered when teaching at Stanford University. Lanjouw and Miller wrote a formal proposal for the project, which the Dean enthusiastically approved.

The noncredit program was launched officially this past summer. ROME students can work on a faculty research project either during the summer or throughout a semester. Summer students work 20 hours a week for two months, must reside in New Haven, and are paid $2,400. Fall- or spring-semester participants work 10 hours a week for three months and are paid $1,200.

"One of the things we wanted was to find a way for bursary students to participate," says Brown, noting that ROME administrators wanted to ensure all qualified applicants could take part in the program.

As part of the ROME program, interested faculty members in both the mathematics and the economics departments submit a proposal describing their research and the areas in which they would consider directing student research projects. Students can apply to participate in any project that interests them. After reviewing student cover letters and resumes, the faculty member then offers an undergraduate the chance to learn research techniques with the faculty member's continued guidance and supervision.

Integral to the program is its emphasis on actual research, not just busy work.

This summer, for instance, economics professor John Rust guided undergraduates Albert Chen '00 and Zheng Wang '01 through work on his research, "Social Insurance at the End of the Life-Cycle: A Joint Model of Unemployment, Disability, Old Age and Health Insurance Benefits." The three-year empirical study, funded by the National Institute on Aging/National Institutes of Health, uses Health and Retirement Survey data to assess the impact of social insurance programs on retirement and labor supply behavior.

Rust and graduate-student members of the research team taught Chen and Wang computer programming and data preparation skills, which enabled the undergraduates to help prepare the project's programming model and work on a paper for oral presentation.

"Professor Rust was very kind," says Wang. "He personally gave us lectures for a week or so, and also gave us books to read on computer programming and on social insurance and social disability."

"Every morning," adds Chen, "he sat down with us for a couple of hours. It was more than we expected. Zheng and I would marvel at how we were getting a free class over the summer."

After becoming familiar with research and computer techniques -- such as Unix commands and Gauss, an econometrics software program -- the students used their newly acquired skills to convert information on a pool of 12,000 people into a database that could be used for analysis.

"They had to be very careful in their work," says Rust. "If they got a period or a comma out of place, that affected the outcome of the analysis." He says the undergraduates "picked up information very quickly. We had to invest time into teaching them what was necessary in the beginning, but it paid off in the end."

"You get a really good understanding of what doing research is when you become part of a research team," says Chen. "You learn how to grasp a problem and how to solve it instead of being frustrated."

"Once you become involved," offers Wang, "you become more productive and want to work more on the project or with the professor. I was very happy about the program."

Rust describes the ROME program as "an extension of the learning environment at Yale that will enrich undergraduates. My observation is that students seem to like learning by doing. For them [Chen and Wang], going through each phase, from working on the data base to writing, seemed more exciting than the classroom experience."

"Usually," says Lanjouw, "all an undergraduate does is take courses where people tell you what to learn. With this, students get a chance to ask the questions and find out if there are solutions. It's good because students find professors have the same problems they are likely to confront."

"This generation of young scholars is very keen," notes Brown. "They're in it [ROME] for the intellectual challenge."

The program also helps students determine the direction of their future careers, says Miller. "Whether or not to go to graduate school is a hard career choice, so the ROME program is extremely valuable," he says. "Students have a lot of ability to go out and solve problems. What they don't have is global insight -- how to connect one piece of information with another. With ROME, they begin to acquire that sense of connection, that global insight that researchers have."

"The more you know, the better you can make a career choice," adds Miller, an expert in analytic number theory. As an undergraduate at the University of California at Berkeley, he was able to gain an insider's understanding of empirical scholarship when he worked on a professor's research project. He credits that experience with providing the proverbial "defining moment" regarding his career choice. "I quickly learned," he says, "that math was the subject for me."

Because of limited funding, those who participate once in ROME are not allowed to reapply. Rust says he plans to apply for an external grant so that more students might enjoy the benefits of participating in the program.

"I'm really both surprised and pleased at how well it's going," notes Brown. "The faculty response has just been wonderful. And there's been an amazing response from students. After three weeks we had 50 applications."

Dean Brodhead says he is delighted at how well the program is taking shape. "When Professors Brown, Lanjouw and Miller proposed this idea to me, I could see what students would gain -- a chance to learn how to do hands-on intellectual work with close faculty supervision," he says. "But since the program is demanding for its faculty participants, who must make a commitment to be active mentors, I did not know what the faculty response would be. I'm most pleased with the cooperation we've received and have heard only good things about the results." The program is supported by a fund given by alumni G. Leonard Baker and Thomas Steyer that has enabled comparable enrichments in a number of undergraduate programs, he adds.

To be eligible for the ROME program, students must have completed their sophomore year and not be working on the senior thesis or some other independent research course. The ROME program is not limited to math and economics majors, stress administrators. Any student with an interest in a faculty member's submitted research topic is welcome to apply. For more information or an application, call Stephen Miller at 432-7048 or visit the ROME web site at www.yale.edu/rome.

-- By Felicia Hunter