The quantity of student research at primarily undergraduate institutions in the midstates region is at a remarkable level and continues to climb. A number of institutions offer summer REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) programs and other institutions have other forms of sponsored summer research programs. These programs are above and beyond the one-on-one student/faculty collaborations that abound in departments throughout the region. With this level of research activity, there are surprisingly few venues where student-focused undergraduate research is featured. In computer science in particular, the model of research publication is to produce a paper and submit it for review at a national conference. Undergraduate research has a difficult time fitting this model because papers by undergraduates must compete against papers by faculty and graduate students from much larger research-centric institutions.

The Midstates Conference for Undergraduate Research in Computer Science and Mathematics provides a venue to target this body of undergraduate research work in our region. To participate, students will submit a research paper which will be reviewed by a program committee comprised of faculty in computer science and mathematics. Authors of accepted papers will be notified in time to incorporate revisions based on reviewers' comments and put into camera ready form by November 7. Students will present their work at the conference on November 19.