Chennai: Amid declining interest in undergraduate maths courses, Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) is planning to conduct a three-week residential maths training programme for students studying in Classes IX to XII in city schools. This is aimed at making students aware of different career paths and research areas.In the first year, CMI might ask select schools to nominate two students each for the programme that will be held in May. “Faculty will introduce some advanced topics in maths and encourage students to do projects. Students will also study some computer-related concepts,” said Madhavan Mukund, director of CMI.Following the training, participants will be called to CMI to present the results of their projects. “In the first year, we are planning to invite up to 40 students who will receive personal guidance from our faculty. The projects will help students understand the possibilities in different research topics in maths and computer science,” he added. Based on the success of this experiment, CMI will design the training programme for the coming years. CMI is also planning to open another campus in the Siruseri SIPCOT IT Park on OMR. “As part of popularising maths, we will conduct workshops for teachers,” Mukund said.
