L-R Rye Country Day School students and M3 Challenge finalists Jaymin Ding, Chaaranath Badrinath, Leah Steyn, Dana Balin, and Alyssa Chu
Team from Rye Country Day School will win a portion of $100,000 in scholarships in MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge
For 14 straight hours in early March, a small group of Rye Country Day Schoolstudents 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 – Dana Balin, Alyssa Chu, Jaymin Ding, and Leah Steyn of Rye-based Rye Country Day 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 Seb Mineo, explained that “M3 Challenge provides an opportunity for students to push the extent of their knowledge and experience in a real-world problem. It is always a very challenging and rewarding experience that provides the students with excellent exposure to intense and collaborative work. It’s an excellent opportunity for any student looking to apply their mathematical skills and modeling knowledge.”
Team member Jaymin Ding said that M3 Challenge provided a unique and impactful opportunity for his team to push their boundaries and apply a wide range of skills to real-world issues. “M3 Challenge truly pushes teams to combine expertise across subjects like computer science, mathematics, physics, politics, ethics, and economics. We utilized many cross-disciplinary techniques, including a cooling model from physics and a machine learning weighting method, to solve the given problem. What sets M3 Challenge apart is that it challenged us to address real societal issues, not just theoretical classroom questions. Participating in a competition like this prepares us to become the leaders, thinkers, and innovators who will solve these problems in the future.”
In addition to Rye Country Day School, the other finalist teams hail from schools in Durham, North Carolina; Houston, Texas; Mason, Ohio; Oakton, Virginia; 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.
