2012 International Mathematical Contest in Modeling and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (MCM/ICM) Results (2012-04-16)

The results of the 2012 International Mathematical Contest in Modeling and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling have just been announced. HMC had seven teams of students participating in the contest, which took place over a long weekend from February 9 through February 13.

We are pleased to report that one of our HMC teams earned the designation of Finalist, placing in the top 2% of over 5000 participating teams worldwide. This team consisted of Dylan Marriner '12 (CS/M), Louis Ryan '12 (Math), and Daniel Furlong '12 (CS/M) This is quite an achievement ! (The same team achieved an Outstanding and the SIAM Award in last year's contest.)

Moreover, two HMC teams earned the designation Meritorious (top 11%), two earned Honorable Mention (top 39%), and two were Successful Participants. This is an incredible showing for HMC and a testament to the strength of our core curriculum and academic program.

The MCM/ICM is analogous to an applied Putnam exam, in the form of a grueling 96-hour competition. As Ben Fusaro, creator of the contest in 1983, puts it: “Most problems that come up in business, government, or industry are solved by teams, are likely to take many hours, and would not be restricted to using only pencil and paper. Moreover, the answer must be presented to an executive who wants a clear, understandable response.” Thus, during the contest, students work in teams of up to three students and have 96 consecutive hours to develop a mathematical model and write a formal paper describing their work. The team's papers are judged not only on their scientific and mathematical accuracy, but also on their clarity of exposition, insight, and creativity.

This year's problems were

1. How much do the leaves on a tree weigh?
2. Scheduling river rafting trips along the Big Long River
3. Modeling for Crime Busting

Here are the participating HMC teams and their scores:

For complete results and judges' commentaries, see http://www.comap.com/undergraduate/contests/mcm/contests/2012/results/.

2011 HMC William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition Results (2012-03-19)

The results of the nationwide 2011 William Lowell Putnam Competition have just been announced, and HMC had another strong showing.

Forty-two HMC students spent a Saturday in December (12/3/11) taking this very hard 6-hour exam, which requires a unique blend of cleverness and problem-solving skills. Nationwide, 4440 students competed, and this year the median score was 1 out of a total of 120 points.

In the team competition, our team of Palmer Mebane '12, Sorathan (Tum) Chaturapruek '14 and Craig Burkhart '12 placed sixth (out of 572 colleges and universities).

As usual, HMC was the top-scoring undergraduate institution although this year another undergraduate institution, Williams College, joined us in the top-ten schools nationally.

In the individual category, Palmer Mebane scored thirteenth nationally and will receive a $1000 cash prize. Harvey Mudd College had seven students in the Top 100 nationally.

Special honors go to the following participants:

In addition, the following students all made the Top 500 List:

• Connor Ahlbach '13
• Emil Guliyev '13
• Samuel Gutekunst '14
• Spencer “Spike” Harris '14
• Matthew Prince '13

We are proud of all 44 students who sacrificed their time, talent, and energies to represent HMC in this year's Putnam competition. These students who enjoy problem-solving represent a cross-section of majors at the College. Please join us in congratulating all those who participated!

(Data on HMC's past Putnam performance is available.)

Talithia Williams Elected to SACNAS Board (2012-02-16)

Talithia Williams, assistant professor of mathematics, has been elected to serve on the board of directors for the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS).

SACNAS is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the success of Hispanic/Chicano and Native American scientists—from college students to professionals—including obtaining advanced degrees, careers, and positions of leadership. Its annual meeting is the largest meeting of minority scientists in the nation; the Society's 2011 meeting had more than 3500 participants. Board members provide leadership and contribute to the organization's fundraising efforts.

Williams's election to the SACNAS board is another sign of the growing collaboration between the organization and The Claremont Colleges. In 2011, Williams and Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dagan Karp organized a conference on “Broadening Participation in the Mathematical Sciences” at which SACNAS Executive Director Judit Camacho delivered a keynote presentation. Camacho later returned to the HMC campus with members of the SACNAS board and met with HMC President Maria Klawe to discuss future collaborations.

Out of these discussions a Claremont Consortium-wide SACNAS student chapter was born and now HMC students not only plan events locally, but also promote attendance at the SACNAS national conference. Karp is the faculty sponsor of the 7-C SACNAS chapter and also serves on the SACNAS National Math Task Force. He has organized numerous mathematical symposia at SACNAS National Conferences.

“I'm immensely proud of the leadership roles Professors Williams and Karp have taken with SACNAS,” said Andrew Bernoff, Chair of the Mathematics Department. “It is great to see our mathematics faculty embracing and advancing the college's commitment to diversity and outreach.”

Williams joined the HMC faculty in 2008 after receiving her bachelor's in mathematics from Spelman College, her master's in mathematics from Howard University, and her doctorate in statistics from Rice University. She has a passion and commitment to outreach. Last spring she organized the first Sacred SISTAHS math and science conference at HMC, which brought 140 middle- and high-school girls to campus. The event focused on empowering young African-American girls by introducing them to successful academic and professional role models.

Williams helped develop the Claremont–Long Beach Math Collaborative, a free, four-week, residential summer math program at HMC that brings motivated African-American male eighth graders to The Claremont Colleges to live, learn and take part in inspiring math explorations. This summer, Williams will facilitate the Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) summer workshop at Pomona College, which mentors women starting doctoral programs in the mathematical sciences.

Original article by Judy Augsburger

Math Major Merits Runner-Up in Schafer Prize (2012-02-22)

The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) has chosen Jennifer Iglesias '12 as the runner-up for its 2012 Alice T. Schafer Prize for Excellence in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Woman.

The math major and President's Scholar received recognition for her mathematical prowess, passion and performance in research projects and competitions.

“I am deeply honored and would like to thank the AWM not only for this award but also for their devotion to mentoring and nurturing women mathematicians,” Iglesias said. “There are many people who have helped and encouraged me to pursue mathematics, and I am truly grateful for all the Harvey Mudd professors for all their awesome teaching and support.”

Iglesias scored in the top 500 on the 2011 Putnam exam and placed 86th out of more than 300 participants at the 2011 International Mathematics Competition in Bulgaria. She also received the math department's highest honor, the Giovanni Borrelli Mathematics Prize for an outstanding senior mathematician.

Her work on two mathematical Research Experience for Undergraduates projects led to the development of four manuscripts, which her prize recommenders advise will “almost certainly lead to publication in research journals.” Iglesias has presented her research at the Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women and the 2011 Joint Mathematics Meetings.

She shares her passion for the discipline through teaching and mentoring others, including work with MathPath, a mathematics enrichment camp for middle school students, service as a student coach for the nation's China Girls Math Olympiad team and volunteering for the Mathematics Olympiad Summer Program.

The Schafer Prize was established in 1990 to honor Alice T. Schafer, one of the AWM founders and its second president, who contributed greatly to the advancement of women in mathematics. Prize recipients—including runners-up and honorable mentions—are selected based upon their performance in math courses, special programs and mathematical competitions, along with the ability to do independent work and demonstrate a genuine interest in mathematics.

Original article by Judy Augsburger

Martonosi to Receive 2012 Alder Award for Teaching (2012-02-08)

The Mathematical Association of America has selected Susan Martonosi, associate professor of mathematics, to receive its 2012 Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Beginning Faculty Member. The award will be presented August 3, 2012, at the MAA's MathFest in Madison, Wisconsin.

Martonosi is the third Harvey Mudd College faculty member to receive the award since its inception in 2003, and HMC is the only college to land more than once on the Alder Award list.

The award honors faculty whose teaching is effective and extraordinary and extends its influence beyond the classroom. Recipients receive $1,000 and a certificate of recognition.

“What sets Susan apart is a desire to bring real-world examples and applications to the fore in education. She is uniquely able to inspire her students to pursue both careers and graduate studies in operations research and related fields,” said Andrew Bernoff, chair of the HMC Department of Mathematics.

The Alder Awards committee cited Martonosi's ability to encourage the national operations research community to embrace undergraduate research as one of the reasons she was chosen. It also noted her work with students in the classroom and beyond.

Martonosi has supervised more than 30 students in research projects—senior theses, Clinic projects and summer research experiences—and more than half have pursued graduate programs. Five of her research students have received National Science Foundation grants.

As director of the Mathematics Clinic, Martonosi recruited industrial projects and added a professional development component that taught students how to thrive in a corporate environment. In 2007, as faculty adviser to HMC's student chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), she helped students raise $40,000 to support an outreach project in Africa. Martonosi and the student ESW chapter developed a water filtration prototype and, in 2009, traveled to a village in Kenya to build it. While there, she taught a class on operations research to teenage Kenyan students.

Martonosi's research focuses on applying operations research methodology and applied probability to solving homeland security issues. She also uses game theory, social networks analysis and graph theory to solve problems in resource allocation and terrorist network disruption.

The MAA established the Alder award in 2003 and presented its first awards the following year. Professor of Mathematics Francis Su received the award in 2004 and former Associate Professor of Mathematics Lesley Ward received it in 2006.

Original article by Judy Augsburger.

Art Benjamin on NPR's All Things Considered (2012-01-12)

Harvey Mudd College and mathematics professor Art Benjamin were featured this week on the National Public Radio (NPR) program All Things Considered. The news outlet covered the 2012 Joint Mathematics Meetings last week in Boston, where Benjamin's presentation caught the attention of NPR reporter Ari Daniel Shapiro.

Shapiro interviewed Benjamin after watching him use the game of backgammon to illustrate math principles. “Math definitely makes me a better backgammon player,” Benjamin said. “If you can figure out probabilities, it's essentially like rolling the game out infinitely many times. It gives you a great deal of information.”

Listen to the NPR broadcast here.

Original article by Judy Augsburger.