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Meet the 2010 National Contestants
Here are the ten contestants who competed in the national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician contest, Thursday, January 14 at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco.
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Rohit Agrawal
Junior at Wayzata High School (MN)
Won first place in Minnesota State High School Math League
Invited to Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program
Likes the Klein Four Group's songs, e.g. Finite Simple Group of Order Two
Hear Rohit talk with Mike
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Rebecca Easterwood
Senior at Shades Valley High School (AL)
Received the Sewanee Book Award
Member, Mu Alpha Theta and National Honor Society
Likes to play Nancy Drew mystery computer games
Hear Rebecca talk with Mike
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Brian Freidin
Senior at Glenbrook North High School (IL)
National Merit semifinalist
Third place freshman year in ICTM state math contest
Spent two summers at Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics
Hear Brian talk with Mike
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Daniel Li
Senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (VA)
Attended the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program
US Physics Team member
Daniel can't wait until the LHC begins creating new results
Hear Daniel talk with Mike
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Kathy Lin
Senior at Los Alamos High School (NM)
US Mathematical Olympiad finalist
US Chemistry Olympiad finalist
Loves origami
Hear Kathy talk with Mike
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Ofir Nachum
Senior at Algonquin Regional High School (MA)
Attended the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program
All-State Band for two years
Watches BBC exclusively for his news
Hear Ofir talk with Mike
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Evan O'Dorney
Junior in the Berkeley Math Circle (CA)
Scripps National Spelling Bee champion
Silver Medalist in International Mathematical Olympiad (twice)
Likes to sit at the piano and compose music
Hear Evan talk with Mike
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Charles Xu
Junior at Fairview High School (CO)
Attended the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (twice, red and blue)
Fourth place, National Science Bowl
Favorite non-school activity is turning theorems into coffee
Hear Charles talk with Mike
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Kevin Yin
Junior at San Marino High School (CA)
First place at Pepperdine Math Day
Fifth place (team) in ARML competition
Carries a briefcase instead of a backpack
Hear Kevin talk with Mike
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Ben Zauzmer
Junior at Upper Dublin High School (PA)
Captain of 2009 ARML national champion team
Perfect score (2400) on SAT
Ben and his sister, who bill themselves as Siblings Unplugged, entertain nursing home residents with their music
Hear Ben talk with Mike
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The contestants were selected based on scores on the national qualifying test and competed for up to US$10,000 (total) for themselves and their school's math department.
Partial support of the event comes from a National Science Foundation Distinguished Teaching Scholar's grant, held by Ken Ono (University of Wisconsin). In addition to the cash prizes in the competition, there were also prizes donated by: Texas Instruments, Maplesoft Inc., John Wiley & Sons, and the AMS. The game is a program of the AMS Public Awareness Office and was developed by Mike Breen (AMS Public Awareness Officer) and Bill Butterworth (DePaul University).
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