Harvey Mudd Teams Have Strong Showing at Annual Math Modeling Contest

For the last 30 years, an international contest has brought together teams from around the world to ponder multidisciplinary, complex problems. Students gather for an intense 96-hours to create solutions that are relevant, clear and understandable.

Harvey Mudd College fielded 12 teams that successfully completed the four-day, online International Mathematical Contest in Modeling and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (MCM/ICM) held in January. Among the 30,000 teams from 21 countries, Harvey Mudd delivered strong performances, with several teams earning top placements in both mathematical and interdisciplinary competitions.

The HMC team of Akshay Seetharam ’27, Hae-gyung Tessa Han ’27 and Adrianne Baik ’27 earned the designation of Finalist (one of only two U.S. colleges earning this honor for Problem E), placing them in the top 2% of the ICM submissions. They also earned the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Award. The team researched, modeled and wrote a solution to an open-ended interdisciplinary modeling problem aimed at tracking habitat change on a plot of land that had been converted from a forest into farmland. Accounting for both human decisions and natural processes, the team used the results of their modeling to prepare a 25-page report for farmers.

The other high-ranking HMC teams selected MCM problems related to helping archaeologists determine wear patterns on stairs (Problem A) or to developing a model of sustainable tourism in Juneau, Alaska (Problem B). The team of Laurie Luo ’25, Maxine Liu ’25 and David Chen ’25 earned the designation of Meritorious, placing them in the top 6% of Problem B submissions, along with one other U.S. college. Earning the designation of Honorable Mention (top 23% of submissions) were Arjun Taneja ’25, Max Collins ’25 and Paco Navarro ’25 (Problem A), and Chengyi Tang ’27, Stephen Xu ’27 and Selina Yao ’27 (Problem B).

All participating HMC teams

Alex Chen ’28, Jiaking Chen ’28, Carolyn Davis ’28

Zachary Wood ’28, Wendi Zheng ’28

Saheli Patel ’25, Emilynne Newsom ’25

Laurie Luo ’25, Maxine Liu ’25, David Chen ’25

Arjun Taneja ’25, Max Collins ’25, Paco Navarro ’25

Ishita Jain ’27, Olivia Li ’27, Sudharsan Gopalakrishnan ’27

Edward Donson ’26, Lev Gruber ’26, Charlie Schofield ’26

Chengyi Tang ’27, Stephen Xu ’27, Selina Yao ’27

Marwan Bit ’25, Alejandro Wang ’25, Aaron Galper ’25

Louis Ye ’27, Grace Williams ’27, Alice Tidmarsh ’27

Akshay Seetharam ’27, Hae-gyung Tessa Han ’27, Adrianne Baik ’27

Ken Tu ’27, James Trongdee ’27, Sruthi Koneru ’27

A selection from the Outstanding solution papers will be featured in The UMAP Journal, along with commentaries from the problem authors and judges.

Last year, Max Collins ’25, Paco Navarro ’25 and Arjun Taneja ’25 earned the Outstanding designation among 10,388 teams in the ICM—one of four Outstanding winners and the only one from the U.S.—and received the MAA Award and the International COMAP Scholarship Award.

Complete 2025 MCM/ICM results and judges’ commentaries