Meet the 2013 National Contestants
Below are the contestants who qualified for the 2013 national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician contest, which was won by Calvin Deng. If you couldn't make it to San Diego, you can still see the contest via the webcast. We'll post more videos from the game soon.
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Eugene Chen Junior at Amador Valley High School (CA) He co-founded the National Internet Math Olympiad, an online math competition Hear Eugene talk about the competition and more with Who Wants to Be a Mathematician host Mike Breen. Read about Eugene in the Contra Costa Times and the San Jose Mercury News. Update: Eugene skipped his senior year and enrolled at MIT. |
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Calvin Deng Senior at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Won a gold medal at the 2012 International Mathematical Olympiad Part of the winning team in the 2012 American Regions Math League Competition Update: Calvin also won a gold medal at the 2013 International Mathematical Olympiad, finishing eighth overall. |
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Allan Garry Junior at Vista High School (near San Diego) Used his physics knowledge to build a trebuchet Hear Allan talk with Mike about the trebuchet and about what he likes about school. Allan was written about on the front page of the San Diego Union-Tribune and interviewed on the KFMB-TV News. |
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Cassidy Laidlaw Junior at Barrington High School (RI) Can't wait until he starts doing research Cassidy is the second student to qualify from Barrington, following Stephen Lamontagne, a runner-up in the 2012 game. Read about Cassidy in The Providence Journal and East Bay Rhode Island. Hear Cassidy talk with Mike about his research plans and more. |
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David Li Junior at Basha High School (AZ) Contributed to the open-source mathematics project, SymPy Would like to use any winnings from the game to go to a summer math camp |
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John Mayo Senior at Miami Springs Senior High School (FL) His favorite thing about school is the math club Like Cassidy, above, John is the second student to qualify from his high school (Pablo Luis Hernandez represented Miami Springs Senior High in 2012). Hear John talk with Mike and find out, among other things, why he owes his brother $8000. |
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Shyam S. Narayanan Sophomore at Blue Valley West High School (KS) Shyam is the defending champion, having won the 2012 contest as a ninth grader. Discussed a math problem with President Obama after winning the Mathcounts National Written Championship Hear Shyam talk with Mike and read about him in an article that appeared in IndiaWest. |
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Caitlin Randell Junior at Baraboo High School (WI) She wants to be a neurosurgeon Caitlin likes school but isn't thirlled with getting up early Hear Caitlin talk with Mike about what she's looking forward to in the contest. After the contest, an article about Caitlin ran in her local paper, the Baraboo News Republic. |
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Eric Schneider Senior at High Technology High School (NJ) A runner-up in the 2012 contest Won a gold medal at the 2012 International Physics Olympiad and the Best Solution for a Theoretical Examination Prize. |
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Alex Wang Sophomore at Los Alamos High School (NM) Can't wait until summer Would like to use his winnings from the contest to attend debate tournaments |
The contestants were selected based on scores on the national qualifying test and will compete for up to US$10,000 (total) for themselves and their school's math department.
In addition to the cash prizes in the competition, there are 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). Read about--and see video from--the 2012 contest, won by Shyam S. Narayanan, a contestant in the 2013 contest as well.
