Two University of Colorado at Boulder undergraduate teams have been named Outstanding Winners in the prestigious Mathematical Contest in Modeling sponsored by the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications.
And that's out of only 11 Outstanding Winners named from a field of 742 entering teams.
This year's Mathematical Contest in Modeling was held over four days in February. Each team worked on one of three open-ended, applied problems, formulating a mathematical model with which to analyze it, and then drawing conclusions and submitting a written report. The winners were announced last week by the consortium.
One of the winning CU teams was comprised of applied mathematics majors Brad Klingenberg and Paascal Getreuer, and Brian Camley, who is double majoring in math and physics. The team, whose faculty adviser was Anne Dougherty of applied mathematics, developed and analyzed a model that assessed the probability that fingerprints are unique. The other outstanding papers for the problem were submitted by Harvey Mudd College in California and University College Cork in Ireland.
The second winning CU team involved applied mathematics major Moorea Brega, Corry Lee, who is double majoring in applied mathematics and engineering physics, and Alejandro Contarero, who is triple majoring in applied mathematics, electrical and computer engineering, and computer science. The team, whose faculty adviser was Bengt Fornberg of applied mathematics, proposed and tested "QuickPass" systems for the popular rides at an amusement park. The other outstanding papers for the problem came from the University of Washington, Harvard University and Oxford University in England.
Two other CU teams who entered the contest received Honorable Mentions for their solution to the amusement park problem.
CU-Boulder also had one student team named Outstanding Winner in the 2000, 2002 and 2003 contests.
"Our students' continued success in the modeling contest is a tribute to their abilities and CU's strong academic programs," Dougherty said. "It is a pleasure to have such high-caliber students to work with."
For complete contest results visit .