Mathematical Modeling Competitions

UW-La Crosse Participation

Below is a summary of UWL participation since 2007.

Year Standing Team Members Problem
2013   Andrew Bennett Sara Kamoske Ali Khalili The Ultimate Brownie Pan
2013   Colin Egerer Brett Rosiejka Bill Schumacher The Ultimate Brownie Pan
2013   Mac Gallagher Lance Hildebrand Casey Shiring The Ultimate Brownie Pan
2013   Jacob Gloe Mitch Spano Zach Tully The Ultimate Brownie Pan
           
2012 Meritorious Cody Hunt Ali Khalili Hoang Vo Camping along the Big Long River
2012 Honorable Mention Maria Jansen Michael Sumption Kacie Van Calster Camping along the Big Long River
2012 Honorable Mention Nate Hildebrand Brett Rosiejka Bill Schumacher The Leaves of a Tree
2012 Successful Participant Adam SanFelippo David Sloan Veronica Tibbetts Camping along the Big Long River
2012 Successful Participant Susan Frankki Douglas MacFarland Joshua Peanasky Camping along the Big Long River
2012 Successful Participant Molly Nerison Mitch Spano Zach Tully The Leaves of a Tree
2012 Successful Participant Brandon Groth Sara Kamoske John Nehls Modeling for Crime Busting
           
2011 Meritorious Jacky Chan Maria Jansen John Nehls Snowboard Course
2011 Meritorious Ryan Esch Trever Hallock Ryan Wilder Repeater Coordination
2011 Meritorious Cody Hunt Ali Khalili Hoang Vo Electric Vehicles
2011 Meritorious Jimmy McDermott Josh Peanasky Yang Yang Electric Vehicles
2011 Honorable Mention John Henry Qiuzhi Ji Brett Rosiejka Snowboard Course
2011 Honorable Mention Susan Frankki Douglas MacFarland   Repeater Coordination
2011 Honorable Mention Jamin Brunette Ryan Haunfelder Jason Rubbert Electric Vehicles
2011 Successful Participant Brooke Hoppe Leslie Kent Kacie Van Calster Repeater Coordination
           
2010 Finalist Jacky Chan John Nehls Joey Powers The Sweet Spot
2010 Meritorious Cody Hunt Ali Khalili Hoang Vo The Sweet Spot
2010 Meritorious Hillary Brummond Leslie Kent Katie Ott Criminology
2010 Honorable Mention Maria Jansen Jimmy McDermott Amanda Welter The Great Pacific
Ocean Garbage Patch
2010 Honorable Mention Paul Benzschawel Brandon Groth Matt Zuberbuehler Criminology
2010 Successful Participant Megan Herrick Jessica Klister Naomi Sperry Criminology
2010 Successful Participant Sam Chen Ryan Haunfelder Douglas MacFarland Criminology
2010 Successful Participant Zach Levonian Chris Miller Austin Zeng The Sweet Spot
           
2009 Meritorious Ali Khalili Joe Lanska Vince Zander Energy and the Cell Phone
2009 Meritorious Eric Bartels Marsha Swatosh Amanda Welter Energy and the Cell Phone
2009 Successful Participant Matt Cocchiola Ray Leach Val Sackmann Energy and the Cell Phone
2009 Successful Participant Yanan Chen Joey Goldman Hoang Vo Designing a Traffic Circle
2009 Successful Participant Sam Chen Chintan Modi Trevor Oswald Designing a Traffic Circle
           
2008 Meritorious Gustav Borstad Jarod Hart Kirk Wienkes Creating Sudoku Puzzles
           
2007 Successful Participant Jarod Hart Kirk Wienkes Lee Wienkes Gerrymandering

The MCM and ICM

Each spring, thousands of college students worldwide take part in the annual Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM) sponsored by COMAP (the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications). These competitions, held in mid February, require students to provide solutions to open ended real-world problems using mathematics.  Teams have 96 hours (4 days) to develop a model, test their model, analyze their results, and prepare a complete written report explaining their findings.

At the end of the 96 hours, teams send their papers to the judging committee, who rates papers based on readability, appropriate use of methods, and overall effectiveness of the paper using the following scheme:

  • Successful Participant - The report responded to the requirements of the contest problem and communicated those results to the judges.
  • Honorable Mention - (Top 40-50%) The team's report contained elements that were judged to contain good progress in modeling and problem solving.
  • Meritorious - (Top 15-20%) The team's report was judged to be excellent in many aspects of modeling and problem solving. The report showed elements of modeling, problem solving, and communication that are exemplary for the scope of the contest.
  • Finalist - (Next 0.5-1.0%)The designation Finalist recognizes those papers that reached the final round of judging. After 7 rounds of judging, those papers reaching the final round of judging constitute at most two percent of all papers.
  • Outstanding Winner - (top 0.5-1.0%) The team was a Finalist whose report was judged to be at the highest level in terms of modeling, solving the contest problem, and communicating the solution. These reports are generally published and used as examples of outstanding student work.

If you're a student interested in participating in the MCM/ICM, or if you're an advisor hoping to recruit a team, check out some of the resources I've found helpful.

Regional Mathematical Modeling Challenges

Each October, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse department of mathematics hosts an annual math contest called the Wisconsin Mathematical Modeling Challenge (WMMC).  This regional math contest gives undergraduate students the opportunity to apply their math skills to real world problems. The WMMC is currently one of three regional mathematical modeling contests.

In teams of three, students have 23 hours to develop and test a model and write a one-page summary of their findings; teams have one additional (24th) hour to finalize a 10 minute presentation explaining their results. Soon after preparing their presentations, teams present their findings to other student WMMC participants. The event concludes with an award ceremony that highlights the work of winning teams as determined by students and advisors.

For more information about the WMMC (or other regional MMCs), visit our WMMC website.

Getting Involved

UW-La Crosse has fielded teams for the MCM in since 2007.  If you are interested in joining a modeling team, contact Dr. Allen, Dr. Bennie, Dr. Eager, Dr. Peirce, or Dr. Yan. or to learn more.