Aftermath
On an auspicious night in early May, my team and I found out that we had won the highest possible award in the international applied mathematics contest MCM/ICM. Out of almost 30,000 teams, only 4 were given the International COMAP Scholarship Award–a recognition that also came with a cash prize of $10,000. Along with this, we received another award from the Mathematical Association of America, and an “Outstanding Winner” designation for our paper designation.
Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled. Looking back on the project after almost a year, I felt it would be an interesting exercise to go through the features of the contest, and what the problem-solving process looked like for my team.
About MCM/ICM
What follows is a brief summary partially adapted from COMAP’s website:
COMAP’S Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) / Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM) is an international contest designed to provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to work as team members to engage in and improve their modeling, problem solving, and writing skills. Teams apply mathematics to model, develop, and communicate a solution to a real-world problem.
At the beginning of the contest, six open-ended problem statements are released. Teams then choose one statement to tackle, after which they spend 96 hours creating mathematical models that generate useful insights about the selected problem. Each of the six problems has a particular “flavor”:
MCM Problem A (continuous) MCM Problem B (discrete) MCM Problem C (data insights) ICM Problem D (operations research/network science) ICM Problem E (sustainability) ICM Problem F (policy) By the end of the contest, teams must submit a report (up to 25 pages). This report encapsulates the details of the mathematical models, the insights retrieved, and a summary of it all.
Problem D: The Great Lakes