This information is intended for potential industrial sponsor partners for IPAM’s Research in Industrial Projects for Students (RIPS).

For the last 25 years, IPAM has hosted the RIPS summer program on the UCLA campus, where we provide an opportunity for talented undergraduate students to work in teams on real-world research projects proposed by sponsors from industry or the public sector. Each student team, with support from academic and industry mentors, research the problem and present the results, both orally and in writing, at the end of the program.

More RIPS videos are available on our YouTube Channel.

We are always looking for new industrial sponsor partners!  If you are interested in becoming a RIPS sponsor, please find a brief description of program below.

About the program:

• RIPS is a 9-week summer program where 36 students (top students in applied math with strong CS background) work in teams of 4 on each of the 9 projects. They work full time for the entire 9-weeks. 
• All students are provided housing (in the dorms) and have office space at IPAM, to promote synergy between teams. We also provide funds for travel and pay them a moderate stipend.
• Each team has an IPAM recruited “academic mentor” who helps guide the project and brings their research knowledge to the table. They serve to keep the students on track and ensure that the project aligns with sponsor expectations. The mentors work up to half time on the project and are typically an advanced graduate student or a postdoc.
• All student teams present their findings at the end of the program both orally and in writing during Projects Day.
• Most RIPS students ultimately go into industry careers, and the goal of our program is to encourage exceptional math students to consider industry research by building their core competencies.

Sponsor partners:

• Each RIPS sponsor provides us with a research project. The sponsor and IPAM partner to co-fund the project.  The project should focus on a topic and goals that are interesting to the company and achievable in 9-weeks. IPAM can help the company refine and steer the project to suit their needs.
• The company is not expected to supervise the students (we have structure for that), but it is advantageous to have a representative who is a good technical contact that students can meet with approximately once per week. Ideally, this person should be able to attend opening day to meet the students and discuss the project.
• We support the students to go on a site visit to their sponsoring organization to present their results. These visits are an impactful highlight for the students during the program.
• Sponsoring organization representatives are also invited to the RIPS projects day at the end of the program. Most companies see an immediate return on investment as they watch the next generation of mathematicians present their research.

Interested? Please contact IPAM at director@ipam.ucla.edu