Montgomery Blair Heads To National Math Competition Finals

SILVER SPRING, MD — Five Montgomery Blair High School students are finalists in the MathWorks Math Modeling (M3) Challenge, a competition that requires 11th and 12th graders to work as a team and solve a real-world problem under time and resource constraints.

Now in its 15th year, M3 Challenge — which is organized by Philadelphia-based Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and sponsored by MathWorks — showcases mathematics as a problem-solving tool and motivates students to consider future careers in math and science. Winning teams will be awarded a share of $100,000 in scholarships, with the champion getting $20,000.

Montgomery Blair students Jesse Silverberg, Emmy Song, Gabriel Wu, Ambrose Yang, and Shawn Zhao will be competing against eight other finalist teams from across the country. However, due to the spread of COVID-19, they will not be traveling to New York City for the competition. Instead, judging will take place online on April 27.

Using mathematical modeling, the Montgomery County high schoolers had 14 hours to develop a solution to a real-world issue: transitioning to sustainable, large-scale electric trucking in America.

They had to create mathematical models to predict what percentage of semi-trucks will be electric in the coming years in order to determine the number and locations of charging stations needed along major trucking routes. In addition, they had to prioritize which of those U.S. trucking routes should be developed with electric charging infrastructure.

"As we wrote this year's question, we were thinking about how Americans are shifting to a mindset of online purchasing, which means goods travel on our highways differently than they did in the past," said M3 Challenge judge and lead problem developer Karen Bliss. "Just a few weeks later, we are living in a world where we can't go out as freely and where it's common to see store shelves empty of essential items.

"We are all reminded of the importance of trucking to our economy and well-being," she continued. "It's great that teams were able to provide insight on how we might increase rates of truckers adopting more efficient technology and think about an industry that deserves praise at this uncertain time."

More than 3,500 students across the country submitted papers detailing their solutions, according to challenge officials.

"Our school has been involved with M3 for the last twelve years," said David Stein, math teacher at Montgomery Blair High School. "The opportunity to tackle a novel problem and then use their mathematical, scientific and computer skills to create a unique solution is a phenomenal experience for all who are involved."

Emmy Song said participating in the M3 Challenge has taught her a great deal about teamwork.

"M3 Challenge gave me the valuable experience of applying math and STEM in creative ways to directly address a real-world scenario. Participating in this challenge also taught our team how to work together, effectively communicate our thought process and results, and work under pressure," said Song. "It was a unique opportunity to research an unfamiliar topic (semi-trucks) and gave me a window into the vast potential in applied mathematics."