Montclair State University Students Excel in Math Contest

Ahadi, West, Catalano, Heinold

Elias Ahadi, Rob Catalano, and Brian Heinold, students in physics and computer science at Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, NJ earned a "meritorious" designation in the international COMAP mathematical modeling contest this spring. They were among the top 39 (18%) out of 212 teams to enter. The winners were U. Cal Berkeley, Harvey Mudd College, Pacific Luthern University and University of Puget Sound. Other teams earning meritorious marks included the Air Force Academy, West Point, National University of Ireland, and Nanjing University in China. "We are in good company indeed," said Dr. Mary Lou West, their coach, who was not allowed to help the team once the problem envelope was opened.

The teams had a four-day weekend in February to answer one question: if an asteroid 1000 meters in diameter were to hit the south pole, what would be the consequences? The team worked out several scenarios depending on the season and the speed and impact angle of the asteroid. In the most benign case only the few people living in Antarctica would die, while in the most severe case a huge tsunami (still 30 meters high when 1000 kilometers away) caused by the ice sheet breaking and falling into the sea would kill hundreds of millions, swamp coastal plains, cause powerful storms and climate changes.

The other MSU team of Stephen Lombardo and Jessica Kazimir, coached by Dr. Michael Jones, answered the question on how the occupancy number of public rooms should be calculated. This contest has been offered for undergraduate students for 15 years and this is the first year Montclair State University has entered teams.

Lombardo, Kazimir, Jones

Return to Mary Lou West's page.