New Math Modeling Contest to be held at UI this October
This past spring, after competing in COMAP's MCM (see below), I asked student participants to answer a brief survey
about their experience. Overall, students raved about the contest and
expressed an interest (and in some cases, precise organizational plans)
for future competitions. However, one element that students
consistently noted as lacking from the MCM was adequate and timely
feedback regarding their solutions. In response, I led
a project involving faculty from colleges and universities in and
around Iowa to develop a new regional math contest to address our
students' concerns. Thirteen teams from
five schools participated in the inaugural Midwest Mathematical Modeling Competition (MMMC), an on-site, 24-hour contest,
that ran for the first time October 25th and 26th on the
University of Iowa campus. More information about the MMMC is available
here.
(Partial) Group picture taken moments before the MMMC began.
COMAP's Mathematical Contest in Modeling
(MCM)
This contest gives undergraduate students the opportunity to apply
their math skills to real world problems. In teams of three, students
spend 96 hours developing and testing a model and composing a formal
report on their findings.
This past February, The University of Iowa participated in the
MCM for the first time. 15 undergraduate students (five
teams) participated and all did very well -- four teams earned
honorable mention designations and one team received a meritorious
award (top 30 in the U.S.) -- but most importantly everyone had fun! (at least that's what
they told me)
 
Some
UI MCM participants (Back row: L to R) Eric Burgess, Austin Peiffer,
Peter Zach, Harry Pressman, Luke Wassink, (Front row) Danielle Nuti,
Dana Bates, and Boanne MacGregor at the results
party and the cake.
In addition to taking part in the contest,
two teams presented
their MCM solutions at the Midwest
Undergraduate Mathematics Symposium (MUMS)
at Simpson College on April 5, 2008.
University
of Iowa students (and MCM
participants) Danielle Nuti, Tyler Dunham and I at MUMS 2008.
Interested in
participating this spring...
- As a competitor?
- Contact me
and we can talk or I can put you in touch with students who competed
this past year.
- Take a look at some old
problems.
- Check out Kelly
Cline's Guide to the MCM. He's a very successful former
competitor and currently a great MCM advisor at Carroll College in
Helena, Montana.
- As an advisor?
- See above to become
familiar with the contest.
- Attend the 2nd Annual Workshop on Organizing and Coaching Undergraduate Math Modeling Teams on October 25th in Iowa City. This year's
workshop will take place during the Midwest Mathematical Modeling Contest (MMMC) a new regional 24-hour MCM-like Contest.
- Look at the
documentation from last year's workshop.
- By no means do I
consider myself an expert, but I did give a talk about my
experience as a first-time MCM organizer and advisor at the
Iowa MAA
section meeting this past April.
|
