Hurricane evacuation and world-class bicycle wheels were the two topics that six students from the University of Colorado at Boulder modeled while competing against math teams from around the world.
Both CU teams placed in the competition, one receiving a meritorius award and the other an honorable mention.
CU-Boulder's department of applied mathematics entered two teams in the 17th annual mathematical contest in modeling. The competition was in February but results were not released until April. The contest requires teams of undergraduates to use mathematical modeling to present their solutions of real-world problems.
Jim Barron, a physics and math double major, Jill Kamienski, a computer science major, and Olivia Koski, a physics major, were faced with a task that involved creating a model to explore potential strategies for the evacuation of Charleston, S.C., during the 1999 Hurricane Floyd.
After arriving at the best suitable evacuation route, the students were asked to develop a news article that would notify the public of the breaking news. Their report placed them in the top 16 percent of all entries with a Meritorious award.
Three applied math majors, Grant Macklem, Tye Rattenbury and Saverio Spagnolie, worked on a model to help explain to racers what kind of edge certain bicycle wheels provide in particular races. The team was awarded an Honorable Mention for its report on whether to use a wire spoke wheel or a solid disk wheel.
The contest takes place over a four-day weekend with a total of 496 teams competing, 232 of which are from 10 foreign countries.
The contest is sponsored by The Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications and offers a modeling problem to students that involves concepts in mathematics, environmental science, environmental engineering, and/or resource management.