{"id":61406,"date":"2013-09-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-math-department-to-host-regional-math-competition-sept-21-22\/"},"modified":"2013-09-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T00:00:00","slug":"uri-math-department-to-host-regional-math-competition-sept-21-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/09\/uri-math-department-to-host-regional-math-competition-sept-21-22\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 math department to host regional math competition, Sept. 21, 22"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tContest will focus on using math to solve real-world problems<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 18, 2013 \u2013 If you think math instruction today is all about pondering equations with lots of numbers and squiggly marks, guess again. More and more, students across the globe are using math to solve real-world problems.<\/p>\n


\nIt\u2019s called \u201cmath modeling,\u201d and this weekend the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s mathematics department will host a regional competition that gives undergraduates an opportunity to investigate (and maybe even solve) big questions about the world.<\/p>\n


\nThe Northeast Regional Math Modeling Challenge will start at 2 p.m. Sept. 21 and run through Sept. 22 at Ballentine Hall on the Kingston campus. Seven teams of three students each are participating: one from 溏心vlog免费B站; one from Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.; two from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth; and three from Mount Holyoke in South Hadley, Mass.<\/p>\n


\nThe 溏心vlog免费B站 team is Drew Haughton, of North Attleboro, Mass.; Robert D.C. Hamilton, of Tuscaloosa, Ala.; and Robert Piispanen, of Winchester, Mass. All are sophomores studying engineering.<\/p>\n


\nJessica Libertini, an assistant professor in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s math department and contest organizer, has been involved with the competition in the Mid-Atlantic for years and encouraged organizers to hold one in the Northeast this year.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s math students,\u201d she says. \u201cMath modeling is a hot topic in undergraduate math education. As problem-based learning gains momentum in higher education, math modeling is coming to the forefront of the curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe students, working in teams, will answer questions that can be investigated with mathematical models. Examples: Predict the financial health of the U.S. Postal Service and explain what you would do to prolong its life? What will the market for college textbooks look like in a decade \u2013 will students rent books, buy books online or buy used books? What is an effective, feasible and cost-efficient water strategy for the United States to meet its projected water needs in 2025?<\/p>\n


\nResearch shows that students learn best when they\u2019re actively involved in the process. In math modeling, students tackle real-world issues, first finding traceable elements of the problems and then applying math concepts.<\/p>\n


\nAfter gathering at 2 p.m. Saturday, teams will choose one of two proposed questions. They will brainstorm for the next 23 hours and submit a one-page summary to the judges, math professors from the participating colleges. <\/p>\n


\nTeams receive written feedback on their summaries and receive certificates for a rank of \u201coutstanding,\u201d \u201cmeritorious,\u201d \u201csuccessful participant\u201d or \u201cunsuccessful participant.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nStudents will also give presentations about their findings to the entire group \u2013 a great way to share research with students and faculty. After the presentations a \u201cPeople\u2019s Choice Award\u201d will be given to one team.<\/p>\n


\nFor more information, contact Libertini at jlibertini@math.uri.edu<\/a>. The public is invited to the presentations starting at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 22 and to the awards event, both at Lippitt Hall. Contest information is available at http:\/\/www.math.uri.edu\/~jlibertini\/NRMMC\/NRMMC13\/index.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cMath modeling is becoming huge,\u201d says Libertini. \u201cSo many of today\u2019s challenges are interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary and math modeling is at the heart of addressing these complex challenges. It\u2019s changing the way we, as research mathematicians, engage with colleagues in other disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe emphasis on math modeling is also changing the way the next generation is educated, from new problem-solving practices in the common core standards for kindergarten through grade 12, to new courses and new faculty in the math department at 溏心vlog免费B站.

\nLibertini, in her second year teaching at 溏心vlog免费B站, has developed a general education course focusing on math modeling for food policy that explores the connections between human health, ecological health and land use. <\/p>\n


\nChris Goodrich, an assistant math professor in his first year, is developing a math biology course to teach students how to apply math modeling skills to study questions like the spread of infectious disease. Both Goodrich and Libertini conduct math modeling research on topics such as tumor growth and large networks, from Facebook to terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n


\nThe first math modeling challenge was hosted by the University of Iowa in 2008. In addition to the Rhode Island site, contests will be held at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvannia, the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, and the University of Iowa. 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s mathematics department and the University\u2019s chapter of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, or SIAM, are sponsoring the Rhode Island contest.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\n溏心vlog免费B站 students who participated in a previous math modeling contest: Left to right, Kenneth Sulaimon of Providence; Robert D.C. Hamilton of Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Drew Haughton of North Attleboro, Mass.; Robert Piispanen of Winchester, Mass.; and Ricky Liang of Glen Cove, N.Y. All are sophomores studying engineering. Photo by Jessica Libertini\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contest will focus on using math to solve real-world problems KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 18, 2013 \u2013 If you think math instruction today is all about pondering equations with lots of numbers and squiggly marks, guess again. More and more, students across the globe are using math to solve real-world problems. It\u2019s called \u201cmath […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}