The Mathematical Contest in Modeling/Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (MCM/ICM) competition is a four-day event held Feb. 4-8, 2021 where teams of three students work on real-world, open-ended problems. Students use whatever non-human resources they want and submit a paper at the end.
Students in any major from first-years to seniors can participate. The best teams have a mix of experiences and backgrounds. Participating in your first year of college is a good way to start practicing for competing in later years. You wouldn’t wait until your senior year to participate in a sport for the first time, so participate in modeling and problem solving every year!
Students can use problem-solving methods from any discipline from simple to complex. Each student team chooses one of six problems to work on from one of these areas:
- Data science
- Networks
- Environmental science
- Policy
- Continuous or discrete math
The MCM/ICM is a great resume builder! Prospective employers love to hear about students’ experiences in real-world situations where they have used their problem-solving, critical thinking, time management, collaboration, written and oral communication skills.
If you are interested, email Katherine Vance. You can sign up as a whole team or as an individual who wants to be put on a team. Teams compete on campus, so there is no travel involved. Students pay nothing and the team gets a food stipend to help buy brain food for the weekend.
If you have any questions, please contact one of these faculty: Katherine Vance, Murphy Waggoner, Ross Sweet or Heidi Berger.