In late April, the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP) released of the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM). Each year, COMAP hosts modeling competitions that undergraduates from universities across the globe compete in. explains that the MCM 鈥渃hallenges teams of students to clarify, analyze, and propose solutions to open-ended problems,鈥� while the ICM 鈥渋s designed to develop and advance interdisciplinary problem-solving skills as well as competence in written communication.鈥澨� At CU, the teams are co-sponsored by the Applied Math Department (APPM) and the Engineering Honors Program (EHP).听 The students are majoring in applied math or in one of the engineering or science disciplines.
After the competition, COMAP recognizes the top papers with an Outstanding designation as well as with named from several professional societies. In relation to the possible awards given, and of most relevance to this year鈥檚 results for CU, the MAA Award is given by the Mathematical Association of America, while the SIAM Award is given by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Teams from CU have historically been extremely successful since they began participating almost 25 years ago, and this year was no exception. Department Chair Keith Julien explained CU鈥檚 success, saying that 鈥渟ince 2008, APPM/CU-EHP has won 14 Outstandings and 17 named Prizes/scholarships.听 This still remains the most named prizes鈥擲hanghai Jiao Tong is second with 8鈥攂ut Shanghai Jiao Tong has passed us now with 16 Outstandings.听 Tsinghua University is in third place with 8 Outstandings during this time period (2008-2021).鈥�
This year, there were 26,112 teams participating; 36 teams were deemed Outstanding. One team from CU (with their team photo on the right), composed of students Emma Goodwill (top听left), Lauren Marsh (top right), and Ishika Patel (bottom middle), was given one of only four . They also received the MAA Award and SIAM Award. This team tackled , which 鈥渋nvestigated the discovery and sightings of Vespa mandarinia (also known as the Asian giant hornet) in the State of Washington.鈥�
A separate CU team, composed of Branson Camp, Aloha Churchill, and Steven Oakes, received the Finalist designation and the MAA Award for their work with . Problem B 鈥渦sed the scenario of the 2019-2020 fire season in Australia, which saw devastating wildfires in every state, to consider the use of drones in firefighting.鈥�
The success of CU鈥檚 MCM/ICM teams are sustained by APPM鈥檚 Associate Department Chair Anne Dougherty. Dr. Dougherty plays a critical role in organizing, putting together, and preparing the teams for the contests each year, saying:听
鈥淲orking with Professors Bengt Fornberg and Manuel Lladser, we鈥檝e recruited students, had training sessions, registered teams, and pushed things along a bit. In our training sessions, we talk with the students听 about the contest to tell them what to expect, how to prepare, and how to succeed. If they鈥檙e not prepared and organized, they won鈥檛 do as well.鈥�
Scot Douglass of the Engineering Honors Program and Dr. Dougherty recruit students from various majors to create teams that have many strengths. Dr. Dougherty explained that 鈥淭he best teams have students with complementary skills and backgrounds 鈥� CU鈥檚 students are top students in the world, and you can see that in the success of our teams.鈥� Organizing teams each year has clearly been successful, and Dr. Dougherty explained that the consistent participation of teams has fostered 鈥渁 tradition of success that is passed down from one team to the next.鈥�
Congratulations to all of the teams from CU who have once again very well represented the university and their departments on the global stage!
The results of the modeling competitions can be found on . The full results of the 6 CU teams that participated, along with the problem descriptions:
Team Members: Emma Goodwill, Lauren Marsh, Ishika Patel (all three women)
Designation: Outstanding, MAA Award, SIAM Award, & COMAP Scholarship Award
听
Team Members: Branson Camp, Aloha Churchill, Steven Oakes
Designation: Finalist, MAA Award
听
Team Members: Claudia Chen, Junwoo Lee,听 Joshua Sun
Designation: Meritorious
听
Team Members: Grant Norman, Brandon Finley, Allison Liu听
Designation: Honorable Mention
听
Team Members: Sanjay Kumar Keshava, Peter Lande, Luke Morrissey
Designation: Successful Participant
听
Team Members: Caden Mcvey, Henry Terhaar, Aditya Vepa听
Designation: Successful Participant