Join the Math Modeling Club!

Club members get together every other week or so, eat pizza, joke around, and try to apply mathematics to some practical problems from science and industry. All students are encouraged to come, from all majors -- if you have some calculus under your belt you'll be in good shape to participate.

At these meetings, we'll choose some interesting problem from contests past and see if we can find any solutions. We'll also talk about how to write up our findings, which will be very useful to you even if you don't enter the contest. Of course, showing up to the lunchtime meetings in no way obligates you to enter the contest, and you won't be showered with guilt if you decide you don't want to enter. You're sure to learn something about applied mathematics either way. Come on by and see if you like it.

Our first meeting this year will be scheduled after the start of Fall classes. Check back soon!

At our first meeting, we will decide the schedule for the rest of the term, so bring your calendars! If you enjoy the club, you could be a member of one of our teams for next year's international Mathematical Contest in Modeling! Think of the benefits: The competition takes place over a weekend early in February. You'll need to decide whether you want to participate in the contest by our last meeting date for this term.

We are very proud of our past participants:

Year Team Members Standing Problem Chosen Contest Solution Contest Pictures
2002 Rahul Gidwani, Ben Schafer, Brian Sullivan Successful Participant Problem A
2003 Tom Davis, Alessa Ellefson, Chris King Meritorious Winner Problem A
2003 Greg Kurtz, Mikey Laurenzano, Mike Rowell Successful Participant Problem A
2003 Emily Langton, Dragan Plakalovic, Brian Sullivan Successful Participant Problem A
2004 Kevin Brink Successful Participant Problem A
2004 Michael Morales, Nancy Rodriguez, Dragan Plakalovic Successful Participant Problem B
2004 Alessa Ellefson, Chris King, Brandon Tardio Successful Participant Problem B
2006 Boyan Kelchev, Nancy Rodriguez Meritorious Winner Problem A Contest Solution
2006 Darren Davis, Justin Webster, Carolyn Yarnall Meritorious Winner Problem A Contest Solution
2007 Megan Bush, Charlotte May, Sabrina Pierard Successful Participant Problem B Contest Solution
2007 Darren Davis, Emily Leidy, Carolyn Yarnall Honorable Mention Problem B Contest Solution
2007 Spencer Anderson, Elizabeth Huber, Michael Sass Successful Participant Problem A Contest Solution
2007 Adam Dhanani, Javvad Syed, Keaton Tomlin Successful Participant Problem A
2008 Brian Gilbert, Emily Leidy, Carolyn Yarnall Honorable Mention Problem B Contest Solution
2008 Michelle Cunnane, Charlotte May, Kimberly Roe Successful Participant Problem A Contest Solution


Check Out Our Pictures from Past Contests

2007

More About the Contest

The Mathematical Contest in Modeling, challenges teams of students to clarify, analyze, and propose solutions to open-ended problems. The contest attracts diverse students and faculty advisors from over 200 institutions around the world. Features of the contest include:

Teams entering the Mathematical Contest in Modeling will choose one of two modeling problems: Problem A (continuous), Problem B (discrete).

Sample problems are available from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

There are many excellent resources about the contest and undergraduate modeling, including:

(the previous section was plagiarized from the very nice website http://www.mcs.sdsmt.edu/kriley/pubinfo/mcm/mcmrecruit.html)

Contact Diane Hoffoss at dhoffoss@sandiego.edu if you have questions, or if you would like to participate.