Mason Students Land Top Spot and $20K in Prestigious International Math Competition

Story, photo & video courtesy of Gail Bergman PR, a division of Progressive Marketing Innovations Ltd

MASON, OH -- Participation in an intensive, online math competition has added up to a first place win for a group of Ohio high school students.

The team of five 11th and 12th graders from Mason High School took home the top award of $20,000 in college scholarships, out of a total of more than $100,000 awarded, after being chosen as winners during the final event in New York City on April 28. Thousands of high school juniors and seniors across the U.S. and sixth form students in the U.K. vied for distinction in this year’s MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge (M3 Challenge), a prestigious international competition that demonstrates the importance of math in everyday life. 

Winners Aneesh Iyer, Ramya Rajan, Raymond Shao, Vivian Tang, and Mingjia Zhang were among more than 3,600 students working in 794 teams who participated this year. 

Now in its 20th year, M3 Challenge 2025 had students spend 14 consecutive hours in late February and early March using mathematical modeling to solve a real-world problem by analyzing data, creating models, developing insight, and submitting their solutions online. Students were asked to devise a solution for local authorities to deal with widespread power outages threatening communities as global temperatures rise and heat waves become more frequent and intense. Nine finalist teams were selected from the U.S., England, and Wales, after having their submissions judged by an international panel of Ph.D.-level mathematicians. 

A program of Philadelphia-based Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and sponsored by MathWorks, the leading developer of mathematical computing software for engineers and scientists, M3 Challenge is designed to spotlight the relevancy and power of mathematics in solving real-world issues, as well as motivate students to consider further education and careers in applied mathematics, computational and data sciences, and technical computing.

“What sets M3 Challenge apart from other math competitions is that it requires students to use math and data to represent, analyze, make predictions, and provide insight into current phenomena,” said Dr. Karen Bliss, Senior Manager of Education and Outreach at SIAM. “We pose big problems about real issues that many students may not know much about. They need to research, quantify parameters, organize data, and apply math skills they’ve learned in class but may have never related to something real.”

Bliss explained that the international nature of the competition gives added prestige for the winning teams. “Every year without fail, we hear from participating students who refer to their participation in M3 Challenge as a life-changing experience that helped open their eyes to how important, useful, and valuable the application of mathematics can be,” she said.

Runners-up in the competition are Durham, North Carolina-based North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics students Steven Gu, Grace Luo, Brandon Willoughby, Brandon Yang, and Jessica Yang, who split a $15,000 scholarship award. Third place winners are Houston, Texas-based St. John’s School students Anik Banerji, David Qian, John Vu, Brandon Wu, and Helen Yang, who shared $10,000 in scholarship funds. Finalist teams from Flint Hill School in Oakton, Virgina, Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York, and Zionsville High School in Zionsville, Indiana received team scholarship awards of $5,000 each. (See full list of winners.)

Winners were announced after a rigorous eight-week, three-round blind judging process involving 120 professional applied mathematicians.

Additional team recognition and scholarships include: Technical Computing Winner ($3,000) to Winchester, Hampshire-based Winchester College; Technical Computing Runner-up ($2,000) to Borehamwood, Hertfordshire-based Haberdashers’ Boys’ School; and Technical Computing Third Place ($1,000) to Winter Park, Florida-based Trinity Preparatory School. These awards recognize and reward students for their outstanding use of programming to analyze, design, and conceive a solution. 

The Outstanding Communication of Results award of $500 was given to the team from Haberdashers’ Boys’ School in recognition of the exemplary explanation of their work, using clarity, presence, and polish in their live presentation.

Teams from Title 1 eligible schools were considered for SPARK Awards, which recognize teams that develop Solutions with Passion, Resourcefulness, and Knowledge. Clare High School in Clare, MI, took home the $3,000 team scholarship, with the runner-up, Druid Hills High School, Atlanta, GA, and third-place team, Marana High School, Tucson, AZ, awarded $2,000 and $1,000 team scholarship awards, respectively.

“It feels amazing to have won,” said Raymond Shao from the champion team, which was coached by Colleen Everett, a mathematics teacher at Mason High School. “Even though we all come from different STEM backgrounds, the fact that we were able to come together for this competition and our joint efforts resulted in this outcome feels indescribable.”

According to Coach Everett: “They banded together and worked really well to make this happen. In terms of the future, they’re going to be the applied mathematicians that we will benefit from in 10 to 20 years.”

The final validation judging panel included professional mathematicians Kelly Black, Ph.D., University of Georgia; Veera Holdai, Ph.D., Salisbury University; Christopher Musco, Ph.D., New York University; and Suzanne Weekes, Ph.D., SIAM. 

The nearly 800 entries were narrowed down to nine finalists, six semi-finalists, and 19 honorable mentions. In total, roughly 5% of entrants were recognized with scholarship awards.

View the 2025 winning solution papers and full list of winning teams here: https://m3challenge.siam.org/resources/archives/2025-year-at-a-glance/

Watch a short video from the final event and awards ceremony here.

For more information about M3 Challenge, visit m3challenge.siam.org.

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