MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Stephensonje (talk | contribs) at 14:55, 12 May 2009 (added awards and recognition). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

 ??? 

Moody's Mega Math (M3) Challenge is an applied mathematics modeling contest for high school students in all New England and Mid-Atlantic states, from Maine through Washington D.C. It is sponsored by The Moody's Foundation (a charity of Moody's rating agency) based in New York City and organized by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) based in Philadelphia. The M3 Challenge awards $80,000 in scholarship prizes each year to the top teams. An additional incentive is the recognition that the winning teams receive. The winning paper from 2008 was published in the College Mathematics Journal and a representative from High Tech's team appeared on FOX Business Channel.

Registration Process

Registration is open to high school junior and senior in eligible areas. Teams consist of three to five students and one coach, who must be a teacher at their school. There is no cost to register or participate in the Challenge.

Eligibility

High schools in the following states/district are eligible for the M3 Challenge:

  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont
  • Washington D.C.

Challenge Weekend

The M3 Challenge is held annually on a Saturday and Sunday in March. Students choose which day they wish to work. Teams download the problem from the Challenge website at 7:00 a.m. and must upload their solution paper by 9:00 p.m. that same day. They can work from any ___location they choose.

The Problem

Two professional Ph.D.-level applied mathematicians write the Challenge problem. Students have no knowledge of the problem before they download it on their selected Challenge day. To solve the problem, they are allowed to use any inanimate, free, and publicly available sources. They cannot have any outside help from anyone, including their teacher-coach.

2006 Problem - Solving the Social Security Stalemate [1]
2007 Problem - Beat the Street![2]
2008 Problem - Energy Independence Meets the Law of Unintended Consequences [3]
2009 Problem - $787 Billion: Will the Stimulus Act Stimulate the U.S. Economy [4]

Judging

Ph.D.-level applied mathematicians judge the contest in three phases. In triage, each paper is read through at least two times before being eliminated or passed on to the second round. The triage round of judging eliminates two-thirds or more of the submitted papers. In the second round of judging, papers are read up to an additional 8-10 times each, and the top papers emerge. The top six will go on to the presentation round of judging while up to 20 remaining papers receive honorable mention team awards. Judging is blind until the presentation round, with teams known only by a unique team ID number. The presentation round is held at the Moody’s corporate headquarters in the World Trade Center on Wall Street where the teams present their papers to a panel of four judges. Following the presentations, judges rank the teams and a formal award ceremony takes place.

Prizes

The M3 Challenge awards seven categories of team prizes to the top 11 teams. Prize funds are shared equally among all team members; prize money goes directly to the college or university at which each student enrolls:

  • M3 Challenge Champions (Summa Cum Laude Team Prize) = $20,000
  • M3 Challenge Runner Up (Magna Cum Laude Team Prize) = $15,000
  • M3 Challenge Third Place (Cum Laude Team Prize) = $10,000
  • M3 Challenge Fourth Place (Meritorious Team Prize) = $7,500
  • M3 Challenge Fifth Place (Exemplary Team Prize) = $5,000
  • M3 Challenge Sixth Place (First Honorable Mention Team Prize) = $2,500
  • Honorable Mention Team Prizes = $1,000 (judges may award up to 20 honorable mention team prizes)


Winning teams

2009
M3 Challenge Champions, Summa Cum Laude Team Prize
High Technology High School, Lincroft, NJ – Team #58
Coach: Ellen LeBlanc
Students: Steve Castellano, Ethan Dale, Jay Feldman, Dan Mane, Matthew Warshauer
M3 Challenge First Runner-up, Magna Cum Laude Team Prize
Elk County Catholic High SchoolSaint Marys, PA– Team #290
Coach: Theodore Hanes
Students: Joshua Catalano, Eric Higgins, Donald Meier, Charles O'Leary, William Yost
M3 Challenge Third Place, Cum Laude Team Prize
The Wheeler School, Providence, RI – Team #128
Coach: George Lewis
Students: Matt Halpern, Brett Musco, Chris Shaw, Karan Takhar, Alex Wheelock
M3 Challenge Fourth Place, Meritorious Team Prize
Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ – Team #119
Coach: Elizabeth Casarico
Students: EJoshua Eiseman, Peter Humanik, Elan Kugelmass, Taesup Lee, Jordan Moldow
M3 Challenge Fifth Place, Exemplary Team Prize
West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, Plainsboro, NJ – Team #57
Coach: John Cornell
Students:Shir Aharon, Chris Bergman, Moya Chin, Tracie Kong, YunHui Lin
M3 Challenge Sixth Place, First Honorable Mention Team Prize
Staples High School, Westport, CT – Team #143
Coach: Gertrude Denton
Students: Kyle Beatty, Jonathan Choi, Jason Gandelman, Naveen Murali, Justin Sherman
Honorable Mention Team Awards
Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology, Team #11, Hackensack, NJ
East Greenwich High School, Team #204, East Greenwich, RI
High Technology High School, Team # 126, Lincroft, NJ
Hunterdon Central Regional High School, Team #211, Flemington, NJ
J.R. Masterman Demonstration School, Team #92, Philadelphia, PA
Kinnelon High School, Team #173, Kinnelon, NJ
McQuaid Jesuit, Team #469, Rochester, NY
Montgomery Blair High School, Team #251, Silver Spring, MD
Needham High School, Team #410, Needham, MA
New Canaan High School, Team #322, New Canaan, CT
Shrewsbury High School, Team #228, Shrewsbury, MA
St. Joseph High School, Team #163, Metuchen, NJ
Stuyvesant High School, Team #293, New York, NY
Summit High School, Team #222, Summit, NJ
The Family Foundation School, Team #239, Hancock, NY
The Lawrenceville School, Team #253, Lawrenceville, NJ
Valley Regional High School, Team #6, Deep River, CT
2009 photo gallery

2008
M3 Challenge Champions, Summa Cum Laude Team Prize
High Technology High School, Lincroft, NJ – Team #128
Coach: Raymond Eng
Students: Thomas Jackson, Kelly Roache, Afanasiy Yermakov, Jason Zukus
M3 Challenge First Runner-up, Magna Cum Laude Team Prize
Manalapan High School, Manalapan, NJ – Team #72
Coach: Jessy Friedman
Students: Michael Bacsik, JJ Liddie, Joshua Newman, Thomas Sozzi, Kevin Tien
M3 Challenge Third Place, Cum Laude Team Prize
Shrewsbury High School, Shrewsbury, MA – Team #178
Coach: Catherine McDonough
Students: Anand Desai, Ruby Lee, Shengzhi Li, Anirvan Mukherjee, Lingke Wang
M3 Challenge Fourth Place, Meritorious Team Prize
Holmdel High School, Holmdel, NJ – Team #198
Coach: Josephine Blaha
Students: Eric Chung, Alaap Parikh, Ashutosh Singhal
M3 Challenge Fifth Place, Exemplary Team Prize
Hunterdon Central Regional High School, Flemington, NJ – Team #141
Coach: David Gelb
Students: Brandon Comella, Gawain Lau, Kelvin Mei, Nevin Raj, Yiwen Zhan
M3 Challenge Sixth Place, First Honorable Mention Team Prize
The Wheeler School, Providence, RI – Team #175
Coach: George Lewis
Students: Brett Musco, Cameron Musco, Christopher Musco, Christopher Shaw, Karan Takhar
Honorable Mention Team Awards
High Technology High School, Lincroft, NJ
Manalapan High School, Manalapan, NJ
Staples High School, Westport, CT
West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, Plainsboro, NJ
West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, Princeton Junction, NJ
2008 photo gallery

2007
Summa Cum Laude Team Prize
Manalapan High School – Team #77, Manalapan, NJ
Coach: Jessy Friedman
Students: Jason Kornblum, Dennis Kim, Caleb Tseng, Franklin Tong, Naiim Ali
Magna Cum Laude Team Prize
Manalapan High School – Team #76, Manalapan, NJ
Coach: Stephanie Pepper
Students: Andy Liu, Dorothea Tsang, David Tretheway, Jonathan Newman, Jesse Beyroutey
Cum Laude Team Prize
Walt Whitman High School – Team #109, Huntington Station, NY
Coach: Louis Crisci
Students: John Lacara, Matthew Giambrone, Peter Werner, Julia Haigney, Jessica Bloom
Meritorious Team Prize
High Technology High School – Team #10, Lincroft, NJ
Coach: Ellen LeBlanc
Students: Elizabeth Wendel, Raja Srinivas, Yelizaveta Yermakova
Exemplary Team Prize
Great Neck North High School – Team #96, Great Neck, NY
Coach: Linda Litvack
Students: Ben Leibowicz, Sam Panzer, Barry Dynkin, David Rosengarten, Scott Huang
First Honorable Mention
St. Peter's Preparatory School – Team #104, Jersey City, NJ
Coach: Benjamin Patiak
Students: David Garcia, Matthew Ward, Michael Rogers, Joe-Man Wan, Eric Morgan
Honorable Mention Team Awards
Governor Livingston High School, Berkeley Heights, NJ
Horace Greeley High School, Chappaqua, NY
NYC Lab School, New York, NY
St. Peter's Preparatory School, Jersey City, NJ
Sayville High School, West Sayville, NY
2007 photo gallery

2006
Summa Cum Laude Team Prize
Staples High School–Team #57, Westport, CT
Coach: William Walsh
Students: Miles Lubin, Elizabeth Marshman, Vikas Murali, and Andrew Tschirhart
Magna Cum Laude Team Prize
Immaculata High School–Team #20, Somerville, NJ
Coach: Elaine Petsu
Students: Christopher Fajardo, Mary Germino, Robert Lee-Own, William Pugh, and Matthew Tom-Wolverton
Cum Laude Team Prize
Herricks High School–Team #14, New Hyde Park, NY
Coach: Howard Huang
Students: Amulya Bhagat, Amol Jain Yaagnik Kosuri, Sam Yoon
Meritorious Team Prize
Great Neck North High School –Team #143, Great Neck, NY
Coach: Madeleine Schindel
Students: Benjamin Albert, Benjamin Leibowicz, Moon Limb, Joanna Melnick, Debbie Yee
Exemplary Team Prize
Manalapan High School–Team #113, Manalapan, NJ
Coach: Stephanie Lynn Pepper
Students: Naiim S. Ali, Andrew Freddo, Franklin Tong, Caleb Tseng, Nicholas Adam Wong
First Honorable Mention
High Technology High School – Team #64, Lincroft, NJ
Coach: Ellen D. LeBlanc
Students: Kathryn Silverio, Elizabeth Wendel, Yelizaveta Yermakova
Honorable Mention Team Awards
Manalapan High School, Manalapan, NJ
McNair Academic High School, Jersey City, NJ
New Providence High School, New Providence, NJ
Northport High School, Northport, NY
Tappan Zee High School, Orangeburg, NY
2006 photo gallery

Awards and Recognition for the M3 Challenge

  • SIAM received an Award of Excellence in the first round of the 2009 Associations Advance America (AAA) Awards program for its role in organizing and administering Moody's Mega Math Challenge [1] [2]
  • Moody's Corporation received a 2008 Excellence Award from the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP)for the company's sophisticated giving program which encourages students to develop a passion for mathematics, economics and finance, and specifically siting Moody's Mega Math Challenge which aims to excite students about employing mathematics to solve real world problems. [3] [4] [5]

References