Tech Team Successfully Participates in Math Modeling Contest

SOCORRO, N.M., May 21, 2005 – A mathematical modeling team comprised of New Mexico Tech undergraduates Jeremiah Gage, T.J. McCormack, and Aaron Wilson recently was awarded a “successful participant” mention in the 21st Annual Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM).

New Mexico Tech mathematics professor Brian Borchers served as the team’s faculty advisor.

The 2005 MCM, held earlier this year, was primarily conducted as an international online contest, with 644 teams representing institutions from ten countries participating this year.

The four-day contest requires that competing teams research, model, and submit solutions to one of two mathematical modeling and interdisciplinary problems posed.

This year, Problem B, which was successfully solved by the New Mexico Tech team, asked competitors to develop a model to determine the optimal number of tollbooths in a barrier-toll plaza.

Major funding for the MCM is provided by a grant from the National Security Agency and support from the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications, which administers the annual contest.

-NMT-