Mason Students Advance to Finals in Prestigious International Math Competition

Story and photo courtesy of Gail Bergman PR

MASON, OH -- For 14 straight hours in early March, a small group of Mason High School students came together to participate in an international online math competition. A combination of math smarts and creative thinking has added up to a spot in the finals for the team, whose submission was selected as one of the best solutions to the escalating crises of extreme heat and power grid failures, which local and national governments are working to mitigate.

The students – Aneesh Iyer, Ramya Rajan, Raymond Shao, Vivian Tang, and Mingjia Zhang of Mason-based Mason High School – make up one of the nine finalist teams in MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge (M3 Challenge), a unique competition that drew more than 3,600 11th and 12th graders in the U.S. and sixth form students in the U.K. this year. The team, whose work underwent intense scrutiny by judges in the first two rounds of assessment, has one last hurdle when they head to New York City on April 28 to present their findings to a panel of professional mathematicians for final validation.

Using mathematical modeling, students had to come up with solutions to real-world questions: How can we predict the indoor temperature of non-air-conditioned urban dwellings during a heat wave? How much demand should a power grid be prepared to handle during the summer months? Will this demand change over time? Can cities minimize the effects of a heat wave or a power grid failure?

Now in its 20th year, M3 Challenge is a program of Philadelphia-based Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and is sponsored by MathWorks. It spotlights applied mathematics as a powerful problem-solving tool and motivates students to consider further education and careers in applied math, computational and data sciences, and technical computing. Winning teams will be awarded a share of $100,000 in scholarships, with the champion team receiving $20,000.

A total of 794 teams submitted papers detailing their recommendations. Roughly 55% of those submissions included technical computing to support and enhance their solutions, and those coding skills make them eligible for additional scholarship prizes.

“Heat waves are not just uncomfortable, they can be quite dangerous,” said Dr. Karen Bliss, Senior Manager of Education and Outreach at SIAM. “In many locations, air conditioning is not a luxury, but a necessity, since heat stress can exacerbate underlying illnesses in vulnerable populations.”

“Unfortunately, mass use of air conditioning puts a strain on the electrical grid and resulting power outages can be devastating,” Bliss explained. “Cities and rural areas alike will benefit from having plans in place for managing energy demands and caring for citizens who need support during heat waves.”

The team’s coach, mathematics teacher Colleen Everett, explained that she is “incredibly proud of this group of students for advancing as finalists in M3 Challenge. Their dedication to applying mathematical modeling to solve real-world problems showcases both their analytical skills and teamwork. This achievement is a testament to their perseverance, creativity, and passion for using math to make a difference.”

Team member Raymond Shao said that M3 Challenge not only provided a platform to propose solutions to real-world problems, but the competition also strengthened his team’s collective decisiveness, collaboration, and creativity far beyond what any classroom could offer. “All of our talents and strengths came to fruition: from programming to policy, and from statistics to material sciences, each of us played an irreplaceable role in deciphering this year’s problem of uncertain energy demand and heat vulnerability. In the future, we hope to continue tackling these real-world issues and create sustainable and resilient solutions.”

In addition to Mason High School, the other finalist teams hail from schools in Durham, North Carolina; Houston, Texas; Oakton, Virginia Rye, New York; Winter Park, Florida; Zionsville, Indiana; and Winchester, Hampshire and Borehamwood, Hertfordshire in the U.K.

For more information about M3 Challenge, visit https://m3challenge.siam.org/the-challenge/. To access this year’s challenge problem, visit https://m3challenge.siam.org/2025-problem/.

To see the full list of finalist, semi-finalist, and honorable mention teams, visit https://m3challenge.siam.org/wp-content/uploads/M3_Winners_2025_pre_final_event.pdf.

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