Last updated: Thursday November 18, 2004

Announcements!

First dry run!!

Start: Thursday November 18, 5:00pm

End: Monday November 22, 5:00 pm

The problems: MCM and ICM problems from the 2002 competition. For those interested in doing the ICM, please contact Ephrat to get a copy of the problem statement.

Please treat this dry run as you would during the competition. That means do not discuss the problem during the dry run with anyone outside of your team; do not peak at the solutions; do not work longer than the time limit; do everything you can to complete a paper, it doesn't matter how bad it is.

Remember that the first time you do such an intense session with your team, you are bound to hit a fair share of bumps in the road; do not let this discourage you. Getting through this experience will help your team bond and learn how to best work together. After all of the teams have completed their first dry run we will hold a meeting/pizza party where teams can discuss their solutions, approaches, etc.

Also, please email Ephrat or Anand your final solution, and try to post it to the yahoo! group so that others can review it.

Good luck and have fun!

Important Talk: efficient literature searches

Given by: Brian Quigley, Engineering Electronic Outreach Librarian

Date: The week following Thanksgiving

Why you should attend: Brian Quigley at the engineering library will speak to us about effective use of the UC Berkeley library and database system. You will learn how to quickly find real-world data and research papers on just about any topic to back up your models. This will easily knock hours off of your literature searches during the contest and may make the difference between a decent and winning paper. You will be surprised how much information is literally at your fingertips.

Advisors & Registration:

As discussed at the meeting on Thursday, teams should decide on which faculty member they would like to act as a sponsor. As per the contest rules, an advisor can officially sponsor up to two teams, and no more than two teams can be sponsored by the same department. In order to prevent conflicts, please email Ephrat and Anand with the professor's name and affiliated department as soon as possible. Professor L. Craig Evans, an applied math professor, and Professor Christos Papadimitriou, a CS algorithms/theory professor, have agreed to sponsor teams in the contest, so you're welcome to approach them. Both are highly recommended.

When asking a professor to advise you, make sure that you have read through the contest information on the COMAP website and understand the official responsibilities of an advisor. Please email us if you have any questions or concerns regarding securing a faculty advisor.

Check out the yahoo! group:

Name: berkeleymcm

Go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/berkeleymcm/

Purpose: This group was set up in order to provide a platform for the creation of an online community among Berkeley MCM teams. It should function much like a newsgroup, so you are encouraged to post to the group any variety of comments and questions you might have. Teams are also encouraged to upload their papers from their dry runs so that others can review them. Please contact Ephrat with any questions regarding access and use of the group.

MSRI Field Trip:

Friday, November 19

2:00pm

Meet at Bancroft and Telegraph

Bring AC Transit pass because we're taking the bus!

Hosted by: Mathematics Undergraduate Student Association

Take a break during your first dry run and join us on a fantastic trip to the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute where you will hear from some of the world's leading mathematicians, have tea time with them and the opportunity to chat. This is an awesome trip for any major! Don't let it pass you by.

Meeting:

             Thursday, November 4

             8:00pm

             9 Evans Hall

Agenda: This will be one of our last meetings as a group for a while. In this meeting we will be finalizing the teams and going over some administrative stuff. We would also like it if teams could have some sort of solution prepared for the modeling problem of their choice so that we can see the different approaches that teams took.

The Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) at UC Berkeley operates officially under the auspices of the Department of Mathematics.  However, for all practical purposes Berkeley's participation in this contest is coordinated by students Anand Kulkarni and Ephrat Bitton.  This year's contest takes place February 3rd through 7th, 2005.

The MCM and ICM contests pit seven to eight hundred teams of three undergraduates from around the world against one another in a marathon four-day real-world modeling contest. Official information regarding the competition is available at the COMAP website and a better description is found in the Kelly's Guide to the MCM.  Berkeley's sole 2003-04 team was designated a Meritorious Winner and ranked in the top ten percent of teams in the world.  The last time a team from Berkeley won the top prize in the contest was in 1993.

Team resources are available on this site, including sample problems, solutions, and training material developed in previous years. This site is still under construction, and more useful materials will be posted within the coming weeks.

GO BEARS!