Three 91探花 undergraduates have earned a place among the world鈥檚 college math elite in an international mathematics competition.
Ryan Card, Ernie Esser and Jeffrey Giansiracusa won the highest commendation in the 18th Mathematical Contest in Modeling, an annual competition sponsored by the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications. The 91探花students were one of four teams, among a total of 279 competing in their category, to merit an outstanding ranking for their solution to a complex math problem. In addition, the 91探花team鈥檚 21-page solution was selected from the four to receive the annual SIAM award from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 an even finer distinction,鈥� said mathematics Professor James Morrow, who acted as adviser for the team. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 safe to say that theirs was judged the best of the papers.鈥�
The contest began on Feb. 7, when officials posted two problems to the Web. The teams from the United States and 10 other countries had four days to pick one and devise a solution. They were allowed to refer to Web and library sources, but could not consult with another person.
Participants didn鈥檛 get a lot of sleep, Morrow said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 extremely intense 鈥� physical fitness is as important as mental fitness, and probably a lot of coffee is involved, too,鈥� he said.
To support the effort, Morrow negotiated with other faculty to get the students out of homework and to excuse class absences during the four days. He also made arrangements for the competitors to have after-hours access to computer labs and brought in appropriate books from campus libraries so they could stay there and burn the midnight oil. 鈥淎ny hitch or distraction could throw them off.鈥�
Esser said his group was surprised, but excited, about coming out on top, and credited a scheduling misunderstanding with possibly giving him and his teammates an edge.
鈥淭his was the second year our team participated,鈥� he said. 鈥淟ast year we misread the contest starting time and ended up starting a day late. So maybe this year we had the advantage of being prepared for a three-day contest when in fact we had four full days to work on it.鈥�
Be that as it may, Morrow said, the performance is indicative of the high quality of students at the UW.
鈥淚 think they鈥檙e incredible,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an international contest. We competed against the best students, no holds barred, open to the world, and won.鈥�
The problem that the threesome tackled involved devising an algorithm to regulate water flow to an ornamental fountain based on windspeed 鈥� the group sought a delicate balance between maintaining an impressive visual spectacle and preventing passersby from getting soaked on windy days.
Card, of Mountlake Terrace, Esser, of Bothell, and Giansiracusa, of Bellevue, will attend SIAM鈥檚 annual meeting in Philadelphia in July to present their paper and receive their award. Three other 91探花teams participated in this year鈥檚 contest. Two achieved a meritorious ranking, while the third received honorable mention.
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For more information, contact Morrow at (206) 543-1161 or morrow@math.washington.edu. Esser can be contacted at jesser@u.washington.edu, Giansiracusa at jeffgian@u.washington.edu and Card at mrcard@u.washington.edu.
Information about the competition, including the problems contestants attempted to solve, can be found at . Information on the local teams, including a pdf file of Card, Esser and Giansiracusa鈥檚 paper, is available at .