Three WPI students win highest award in mathematical contest

by Jason Papadopoulos - News Editor

A group of three students from WPI is one of only four groups from around the world to have had their entry for the COMAP Mathematical Contest in modeling judged "Outstanding". More than 300 international teams participated in this annual COMAP sponsored competition, with judgments of "Outstanding", (best four teams), "Meritorious", (best forty teams), and "Honorable Mention", (best hundred teams).

Aron C. Atkins, Henry A. Fink, and Jeffrey D. Spaleta, started the competition on Friday, February 2, at 12:00pm and worked until the submission time of 5:00pm on Monday, February 5. Assistant Professors for Mathematical Sciences, Arthur C. Heinricher, Bogdan M. Vernescu, acted as the students' advisors. The problem that they had been assigned, "Imaging Underwater Objects with Ambient Noise" had no concrete answers and involved detailed research and proof work. This is the second these three mathematical science students have taken part in this competition. In 1995 they were judged "Meritorious" for their solution to the problem, "Interceptions of a Single Helix and a Plane."

For further information lookup the following web pages:

http://www.wpi.edu/~atkins/ Aron C. Atkins

http://picard.res.wpi.edu/~haf/ Henry A. Fink

http://www.wpi.edu/~spaletaj/ Jeffrey D. Spaleta