MAT 440 – BIG Problems
Draft Syllabus (Subject to Change)
Course Description: BIG Problems in Mathematics will engage students with research problems in the areas of Business, Industry, and Government (BIG) agencies. Through the course of the semester, students will work toward a solution to a single or series of problems posed by BIG liaisons, concluding with a final written report and video presentation to the sponsoring agency. Specific course topics will change depending on the needs of the sponsoring agency.
More About MAT440 (BIG Problems)
MAT440 is one of several courses that satisfies the Culmination requirement in the Commons/General Education program at Southern New Hampshire University.
BIG Problems is a project-driven course where teams of students act as consultants for a partnering organization. Partners may include non-profits, government agencies, municipalities, or companies. Each partner donates a problem that they either lack the internal resources or the expertise to solve — but solving it would make a real difference.
Student teams meet every two to three weeks with a liaison from the partnering agency to report on their progress. In these meetings, teams:
- Receive feedback on their approaches
- Learn to adjust and refine their methods
- Practice translating technical results into language that business and policy leaders can act on
Between meetings, teams iterate, implement feedback, and push their solutions forward.
Past projects have included:
- Modeling dermal (skin) absorption of bromochloromethane, a harmful chemical which is present in some water supplies (partner: U.S. EPA).
- Modeling tumor growth (partner: DEKA Research and Development).
- Optimizing manufacturing processes under the threat of rolling blackouts (partner: Procter and Gamble).
- Developing optimal wide-area search strategies for UAVs and drones (partner: BAE Systems)
Who Should Take MAT440?
Any student interested in technical problem solving and communication!
While BIG Problems is listed as a 400-level mathematics course, you don’t need years of math coursework to succeed. In fact, most of the mathematics needed for approaching a BIG Problem will be learned along the way — not drawn from prior courses.
- Recommended prerequisite: any 300-level (or higher) mathematics course, but may be waived after a meeting with the instructor.
- Open to all majors and modalities. Students from both on-campus and online programs at SNHU are welcome. BIG Problems teams benefit from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Interested but unsure if this course is right for you? Contact Dr. Gilbert at a.gilbert1@snhu.edu.
Transferable Skills You’ll Build in MAT440
Students gain more than knowledge in their specific project domain. By the end of the course, you will have developed skills that transfer directly to careers and graduate study, including:
- Research & problem solving: Tackling open-ended problems with no unique solution
- Assumption-making & justification: Scoping large, complex problems responsibly
- Transparency & reproducibility: Building solutions and reports that others can verify and build upon
- Teamwork: Collaborating across disciplines, and sometimes across geographic distance (with both campus and online peers)
- Computing skills: Using programming languages, simulations, and even working on multi-language teams
- Version control (Git/GitHub): Collaborating, documenting workflows, and tracking progress like professionals do
- Professional communication: Delivering polished written reports and compelling oral presentations to real-world business and government partners
Course Timeline
This is a project-driven course, so the schedule beyond the first few weeks will be shaped by your team’s progress, liaison feedback, and research directions. Here’s a tentative outline of the early sessions to get you started.
| Class Meeting | Before Class | During Class | After Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Review syllabus Create a GitHub account |
Course overview Meet your team and liaison Discuss project background |
Set up your software environment (git, Python/R/Matlab, IDE of choice) |
| 2 | Research project and approach | Crash course in git/GitHub | Create a private team repo Add teammates (and me!) Write a basic README Create a Quarto project notebook |
| 3 | Continue project and approach research | General software workflow basics Soft launch…issues, branches, merging |
Assign basic initial issues branch and close with merges |
| 4 | Update project progress | Research strategies: where to look, how/when to use AI tools, and how/when not to |
Start working! |
| 5+ | Plan for class check-ins Prepare for interim presentations |
Working sessions Present to liaison ~every 3 weeks |
Use feedback to prioritize next steps |
Additional Helpful Resources
You are likely to find the following general resources quite helpful.
- Ted Laderas’ git/GitHub overview
- Meghan Harris: Please Merge Before I Start Crying
- Quarto Guide
- More to come…