This year, a record number of 20,602 teams from across the world competed in the 34th annual International Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM/ICM). From February 8th through February 12th (only 4 days), each team of 3 students selected a problem (A-F) and proceeded to research, create mathematical and numerical models, and write a report about their solution. CU Boulder’s Department of Applied Mathematics, with additional support from the Engineering Honors Program, sent 15 teams from a wide array of majors including almost every engineering major sub-field. Applied Math faculty members, Anne Dougherty, Bengt Fornberg, and Manuel Lladser, organized and advised the teams.
The team of Marc Thomson, Derek Gorthy, and Christine Reilly, advised by Anne Dougherty, was awarded an Outstanding designation, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) award, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) award for their work on Problem A. Problem A was about the hopping of high frequency (HF) radio transmissions. Like light waves, radio waves are affected by reflection, refraction, diffraction, absorption, scattering, and polarization. HF radio waves specifically can refract from charged particles in the atmosphere back to earth over very large distances. So, the integrity of the radio transmissions in Problem A were highly dependent on surface and atmospheric conditions. According to the MCM press release, Problem A required teams to “determine the maximum amount of hops a transmission could make before the signal dropped below a maximum usable frequency (MUF) over a calm ocean, turbulent ocean, and rugged terrain.” As a further complication, the object said to be receiving the HF radio transmissions was a ship moving on the ocean. For context, only 33 of the 20,602 total teams were given an Outstanding designation, placing this CU team’s work on Problem A in the top 0.16%.
CU teams also received 5 Meritorious (placing them in the top 9-10%), 3 Honorable Mentions (top 35%), and 6 Successful Participant designations. Over the 34 years of the International Mathematical Contest in Modeling, CU teams have received more Outstanding designations and named awards than any other university in the world.
The Outstanding team is pictured from left to right: Anne Dougherty, Marc Thomson, Christina Reilly, Derek Gorthy, Bengt Fornberg (not pictured: Manual Lladser).
All CU teams and their results can be found below:
Team: Marc Thomson, Derek Gorthy, Christine Reilly
Problem A
Result: Outstanding winner, MAA and SIAM awards
Team: Tyler Schuessler, Nelson Mitchell, Ryan Ibarra
Problem B
Result: Meritorious
Team: Kylee Budai, Anthony Tracy
Problem B
Result: Meritorious
Team: Scott Marin, Vladimir Zhdanov, Andrew Jeseritz
Problem C
Result: Meritorious
Team: Brendan Palmer, Aparajithan Venkateswaran, Johann Kailey-Steiner
Problem F
Result: Meritorious
Team: David Bloom, Lucas Laird, Willam Shand
Problem F
Result: Meritorious
Team: Kyle Kolanowski, Sydney Levy, Emma Simmerman
Problem A
Result: Honorable Mention
Team: Emily Zuetell, Hannah Livingston, Jenna Trost
Problem D
Result: Honorable Mention
Team: Maxine Hartnett, Connor Hudson, Kathryn Gray
Problem D
Result: Honorable Mention
Team: Avery Anderson, Camilla Hallin, Brendan Lynch
Problem B
Result: Successful Participant
Team: Shu-Yu Lin (Michelle), Simon Julien, Leo Greer
Problem C
Result: Successful Participant
Team: William Boshell, Kaushik Kannan, Gretchen Conley
Problem C
Result: Successful Participant
Team: Erik Rhodes, Jacob Haimes, Leah Selman
Problem C
Result: Successful Participant
Team: James Douthit, Coby Whitmore, Colton Trigg
Problem D
Result: Successful Participant
Team: Ellen Considine, Suyog Soti, Emily Webb
Problem E
Result: Successful participant