Eleanore Campbell and Melissa Jay, juniors, and Nathan Mankovich, sophomore, were the winners of the 2015 International Mathematical Modeling Contest. The competition challenges teams of undergraduates to use mathematical modeling to solve real world problems.
The contest allowed participants to choose between two problems; students could either model how to search for lost airplanes or how to eradicate Ebola. Out of 7,636 entries from over 17 countries, the Colorado College team was one of 10 to be selected as the winners.
“We chose the lost plane problem because we knew fewer people were going to do it and because the other prompt involved disease modeling, which is unfamiliar to us,” said Mankovich. “We wanted to set our group apart and thought that the plane prompt offered more space for creativity in terms of solution methods.”
The competition took place over four days. Participants were responsible for modeling, numerical simulations, an essay, and a non-technical paper for the airlines to use in their press conference.
The CC team’s paper is titled: “Search for a Lost Plane: A Probabilistic, Neighborhood-Based Model for Locating Transoceanic Flights” and explains how to find transatlantic flights that have crashed over open water without giving a signal. The solution had to account for a variety of different planes.
The mathematical model that the team created helps increase the likelihood of finding a lost plane efficiently, in order to conserve resources. If used, this model would significantly increase the chances of finding the location of a crashed plane, although there would not be 100 percent probability of success.
“Modeling is all about making assumptions and approximations regarding reality without overcomplicating an issue. We were able to provide a relatively simple, logical searching pattern that may not completely ‘solve’ the plane problem, but more approximates a possible solution,” said Mankovich.
The competition tested not only the participant’s mental strength, but also their ability to work together under tight time constraints. Mankovich attributes the team’s success to their unity, the “mad” writing skills of Campbell and Jay, and hard work put in with less than four hours of sleep per night. “It was Block Plan 101. If you want to do anything to the best of your ability, don’t sleep,” said Mankovich.
Campbell, Jay, and Mankovich received the award from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), the largest society in the world for professionals in the field of operations research, management science, and analytics. Judges expressed that the CC team’s final product best represented INFORM’s professional style and content.