The following is a news release submitted to Andover News by Phillips Academy in Andover. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Andover News.
Participation in an intensive, online international math competition has added up to a first place win for a group of Massachusetts high school students.
The team of five 11thand 12th graders from Phillips Academy in Andover took home the top prize of $20,000 in college scholarships, out of a total of more than $100,000 awarded, after being chosen as winners during the final event in New York City on April 29. Thousands of high school juniors and seniors across the U.S. and sixth form students in the U.K. vied for distinction in this year’s MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge (M3 Challenge), a prestigious competition that demonstrates the importance of math in everyday life.
Winners Tianyi Evans Gu, Yifan Kang, Eric Wang, Anthony Yang, and Angeline Zhao were among more than 3,000 students working in 655 teams whoparticipated in this year’s M3 Challenge.
Now in its 19th year, the 2024 M3 Challenge saw students spend 14 consecutive hours in early March using mathematical modeling to solve a real-world problem by collecting data and creating models, developing insight on the problem, and submitting their solutions online. This year’s competition asked students to use math modeling to come up with an answer to the current double-whammy crises of affordable housing and homelessness. Nine finalist teams were selected from across the U.S., England, and Wales, after having their submissions judged by an international panel of Ph.D.-level mathematicians.
A program of Philadelphia-based Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and sponsored by MathWorks, the leading developer of mathematical computing software for engineers and scientists, M3 Challenge is designed to spotlight the relevancy and power of mathematics in solving real-world issues, as well as motivate students to consider further education and careers in applied mathematics, computational and data sciences, and technical computing.
“What sets M3 Challenge apart from other math competitions is that it uniquely requires students to use math modeling as a process to represent, analyze, make predictions and provide insight into current phenomena,” said Dr. Karen Bliss, Senior Manager of Education and Outreach at SIAM. “We pose big problems about real issues that many students may not know much about. They need to research, quantify the parameters, organize data, and use skills they’ve learned in math class but may have never related to something real.”
Bliss explained that the international nature of the competition gives added prestige for the winning teams. “Every year without fail, we hear from participating students who refer to their participation in M3 Challenge as a life-changing experience that helped open their eyes to how important, useful, and valuable the application of mathematics can be,” she said.
Runners-up in the competition are Alexandria, Virginia-based Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology students Rishabh Chhabra, Om Gole, Rishabh Prabhu, Laura Zhang, and Victoria Zhang, who split a $15,000 scholarship prize. Third place winners are Livingston, New Jersey-based Livingston High School students Harsh Akunuri, Olivia Mei, Timothy Wu, Kevin Zhang, and Nathan Zhang, who shared $10,000 in scholarship funds. Finalist teams from Canyon Crest Academy in San Diego, California, The Pingry School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois also received team scholarship prizes of $5,000 each. (See full list of winners.)
The winners were announced following a rigorous, eight-week-long, three-round blind judging process engaging 120 professional applied mathematicians.
Additional recognitions and scholarships were also given, including the Technical Computing Winner prize of $3,000 to the Gainesville, Florida-based F.W. Buchholz High School team; Technical Computing Runner-up prize of $2,000 to the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Blake School-Northrop Campus team; and Technical Computing Third Place prize of $1,000 to the Watford, Hertfordshire-based Watford Grammar School for Boys team. These supplementary awards recognize and reward students for their outstanding use of programming to analyze, design, and conceive a solution.
At the conclusion of the team presentations, one team was recognized for exemplary explanation of their work, using clarity, presence, and polish in their live presentations. The Outstanding Communication of Results prize of $500 was given to the team representing Watford Grammar School for Boys.
“This was such an amazing experience, and it was really exciting for us to be able to participate in this competition for the first time,” said Angeline Zhao from the champion team, which was coached by Khiem DoBa, a mathematics teacher at Phillips Academy Andover. “We were already so proud of our paper after Challenge weekend and decided that no matter what happened, we were happy to have this experience as a team.”
According to Coach DoBa: “I am absolutely thrilled for the team’s well-deserved win. I know how talented and incredible they are as young mathematicians, and I have never seen a high school team function with such a high level of teamwork, energy, and dedication.”
The final validation judging panel included professional mathematicians Leyda Almodóvar Velázquez, Ph.D., Stonehill College, Kelly Black, Ph.D., University of Georgia; Veera Holdai, Ph.D., Salisbury University; Christopher Musco, Ph.D., New York University; and Suzanne Weekes, Ph.D., SIAM.
The entries were narrowed down to nine finalists, six semi-finalists, and 22 honorable mentions. In total, about 6% of entrants were distinguished with scholarship prizes.
View the 2024 winning solution papers and full list of winning teams here: https://m3challenge.siam.org/resources/archives/2024-year-at-a-glance/
Watch a short video from the final event and awards ceremony here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IMp7Gp5VxM
For more information about M3 Challenge, visit m3challenge.siam.org.
About Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an international society of more than 14,000 individual, academic, and corporate members from 90+ countries. SIAM helps build cooperation between mathematics and the worlds of science and technology to solve real-world problems through publications, conferences, and communities like student chapters, geographic sections, and activity groups. Learn more at siam.org.