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College of Science and Engineering
Mathworks

HSMC team wins First Place at Siemens Competition

December 7, 2009

A  team of three students from the Mathworks Honors Summer Math Camp (HSMC) team has won first place at the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology!  The team of Kevin Chen (Sugar Land, TX), Sean Karson (Winter Park, FL), and Dan Liu (Austin, TX) worked under the mentorship of Professor Jian Shen, Professor of Mathematics at Texas State, during the 2009 HSMC. Their project title was "Relating Missing and Decycling Edges in Directed Graphs".  The three will share a $100,000 college scholarship.

The team had to first compete at a regional level competition at the University of Texas-Austin, and was awarded a $6,000 college scholarship for winning that region.  The winners from each of six regional sites competed at the national finals in New York University in December. See the Siemens website at www.siemens-foundation.org for more information about the competition.

The HSMC now has a total of 4 teams (11 students) that have reached the national finals of the Siemens Competition, and 94 students (33 teams) that have been semi-finalists or above.  This is the first HSMC team to finish first overall!

 

Sean, Kevin, and Dan at the national finals. (photo: Siemens Foundation)

 

L to R: Mathworks Advisory Board member Herb Carter, Sean, Dan, Kevin, Mathworks Director Max Warshauer

 About the Honors Summer Math Camp (HSMC) and Mathworks

The Mathworks HSMC is a 6-week residential summer program for talented high school students who are interested in mathematics.  Students take college-level math courses, participate in original research projects, and attend guest lectures given by speakers from academia and industry.  This 20-year old program is held each summer at Texas State University in San Marcos.  See www.txstate.edu/mathworks for more information about the program and applications.

Texas Mathworks is a center for innovation in mathematics education at Texas State University. Our mission is to develop model programs and self-sustaining learning communities that engage Texas K-12 students from all backgrounds in doing mathematics at a high level. Summer math camps and after school programs include undergraduate counselors mentored by more experienced math teachers, who themselves are being trained as teacher-leaders for their districts. Developing students' natural math abilities earlier is critical to their success in algebra and more advanced math. Mathworks programs are raising the level of mathematics for all students, while developing our leaders for the 21st century.

 

About the Siemens Competition

The Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology recognizes remarkable talent early on, fostering individual growth for high school students who are willing to challenge themselves through science research. Through this competition, students have an opportunity to achieve national recognition for science research projects that they complete in high school. It is administered by The College Board and funded by the Siemens Foundation.

 

Additional Press Coverage

  • Siemens Foundation Press Release
  • Newstreamz
  • Austin American-Statesman
  • Orlando Sentinel 
  • New York Times