Contestants for the 2019 Who Wants to Be a Mathematician Championship

Alex Chung, junior, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (VA)

Three-time qualifier for the USAMO/USA(J)MO.

2016 Virginia MathCounts Champion.

Alex has recorded 248 wins in the United States Tennis Association and is a leading member of his six-time state champion varsity team.

Anudeep Golla, junior, Fairview High School (CO)

Two-time national Mathcounts qualifier.

In 2016, he was the highest goal scorer for FC Boulder.

Anudeep can't wait until humans find a way to colonize Mars and we discover different forms of life in the universe.

Read more about Anudeep in this article, "Broomfield youth to compete in math game show," by Jennifer Rios.

Connor Gordon, junior, American Heritage School (FL)

One of only two non-twins in his generation of cousins. His two sisters are twins, and of five cousins, four are twins (two sets).

Was the high scorer on the Florida A1 ARML team.

His favorite thing about school is the math team and all the amazing experiences he's had and friends he's made.

Maximillian Guo, senior, Sycamore High School (OH)

USAMO qualifier.

Can't wait until next summer--the summer before college.

Listens to classical, electronic, and jazz music.

Olivia Guo, senior, Concord College (UK) ("College" in the UK isn't the same as "college" in the US.)

Attended the British Mathematical Olympiad twice.

Received two grades of "outstanding" on the Sixth Term Examination Papers 1 and 2.

Got full marks in the UK's Senior Maths Challenge.

Olivia has been written about twice in the Shropshire Star: "Shropshire student Olivia through to UK mathematics final," by Aimee Jones (Nov. 19) and "It all adds up for Olivia," by Lucy Todman (Dec. 4).

Howard Halim, senior, University of Toronto Schools (ON)

He won a silver medal at the 2018 International Mathematical Olympiad and finished second overall in the Canada Mathematical Olympiad.

Howard, the first contestant from Canada to qualify for the Who Wants to Be a Mathematician Championship last year, has qualified for the second straight year.

He loves competitive programming and is "super interested" in machine learning and AI.

Michael Han, junior, Iowa City West High School

Michael dreams of seeing the night sky for what it is, without artificial lights.

He was Mathcounts Iowa state individual champion twice.

His favorite thing about school is working with the other students in the math club.

Brian Liu, sophomore, High Technology High School (NJ)

He earned a perfect score on the AMC 10, AIME, and USAJMO, and has qualified twice for the Mathematics Olympiad Program.

Finished second in the 2018 Who Wants to Be a Mathematician Championship.

Brian won the "Funniest Halloween Costume" at his high school this year.

Praneet Mekala, senior, Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science at WPI

Favorite thing about school is playing pool with friends.

Praneet has been to 46 of the 50 states in the U.S. and can't wait until he can travel the world.

He won the NSF's National Science Competition as a 9th grader.

See more about Praneet in "Q&A: Shrewsbury math whiz to compete in international competition," by Morgan Hughes, The Boston Globe, December 25, 2018.

Steven Qu, senior, Montgomery Blair High School (MD)

Steven is a four-time USA(J)MO qualifier and a USA Physics Olympiad semifinalist.

He plays the violin and was selected for the National Youth Orchestra of China and the All-National Symphony Orchestra.

He helped design a model to predict the results of the recent mid-term elections.

Luke Robitaille, freshman, Robitaille Homeschool (TX)

Luke is the only person to win the national Mathcounts competition twice. (Here he is on Live with Kelly and Ryan just after his second victory.)

He won a Spirit of Ramanujan Award and took first place at the Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament in February.

If he wins first place, he'll probably put the money in the bank.

Tristan Shin, senior, Canyon Crest Academy (CA)

His favorite thing about school is "hanging out with friends and doing things that we love together."

He got a perfect score on AMC 12 and was a Mathematical Olympiad qualifier.

He can't wait until the game of chess is solved.