My favorite Mudders

Last week I showed you my ASP photos, but I withheld this one -- I didn't want it to get overlooked in the shuffle.  These are (most of) the HMC tour guides, looking fetching in their stylish black t-shirts.  And, well, I love them.  The guides, that is, not the shirts.  They're endlessly enthusiastic, genuinely warm, and (sorry guys) completely adorable.  I know, I know, you're adults.  You're still adorable.

As the spring semester of tour guiding nears its conclusion, I want to say a big THANK YOU to the student ambassadors who make each and every day in the admission office possible.  You're why I love working at Mudd.  Thanks for all you do.

MCM/ICM Contest Results

Mudd competes in the Putnam each year, but in my personal opinion, the International Mathematical Contest in Modeling and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling are even better fits with our curriculum and collaborative emphasis.  Here's Professor Susan Martonosi's description of the contests:

The MCM/ICM is analogous to an applied Putnam exam, in the form of a grueling-96 hour competition. As Ben Fusaro, creator of the contest in 1983, puts it: "Most problems that come up in business, government, or industry are solved by teams, are likely to take many hours, and would not be restricted to using only pencil and paper. Moreover, the answer must be presented to an executive who wants a clear understandable response." Thus, during the contest, students work in teams of up to three students and have 96 consecutive hours to develop a mathematical model and write a formal paper describing their work. The team's papers are judged not only on their scientific and mathematical accuracy, but also on their clarity of exposition, insight and creativity. 

Sounds kinda like an abbreviated, low-budget version of Clinic, no?  Anyway, this year seven teams from HMC chose to compete.  Here were the topics they attacked back in February:

(A) Maximizing "vertical air" achievable on a snowboarding half-pipe
(B) Minimizing the number of cell phone repeaters needed to serve a geographical area
(C) Modeling the social, environmental, health and economic impacts of Electric Vehicles

Cool problems, huh?  And they really do sound like Clinic projects, especially problem B) -- so not surprisingly, that's what the top-scoring HMC team chose to attack.  Dylan Marriner (CS/M '12), Louis Ryan (Math '12) and Daniel Furlong (CS/M '12) earned the top designation of Outstanding (given to only 8 teams out of the 2775 entries worldwide!) and the SIAM Prize.
 
Another HMC team earned the designation Meritorious (top 15%), three earned Honorable Mention (top 45%), and two were Successful Participants.  Several first-year students competed, which made me happy, and our very own blogger David Rolfe was named a "successful participant" (be proud, David, be proud).

For complete results and judges' commentaries, see http://www.comap.com/undergraduate/contests/mcm/contests/2011/results/  The site also posts all the contest problems going back to 2000, so if you have some free time, you can even try the MCM/ICM for yourself.  Enjoy!

ASP = Phew!

Admitted Student Program. It happened!  Afterwards, I wanted to go straight home, put on my pajamas, and sleep for a week -- but the program itself was a blast.  In fact, so much fun was had that I remembered to take exactly three photos during the event itself.  So instead, I give you a behind-the-scenes tour of the lead-up to the program. 

"Harvey Hipsters": you've seen it on video, now here's the Hipstomatic version of the folder stuffing extravaganza.  (Photo by Aasim Rizvi)

Saturday: chilling with the PSP finalists in Platt Living Room.  This was before they were coerced into singing the theme song from "Sponge Bob SquarePants."  You think I'm kidding.

Ready for the admits!  Corinne, Stephen, Aileen, Sarah, and David at the registration table.

Aasim wrestling with the jumbo-size research posters.

Done with the research posters!  Peter, Garrett, Katie, and Rebecca. 

Pat arranges the parent nametags just so.

Still no guests . . .

More hanging of paper.  Hannah with the all-important restroom signs (the #1 question at ASP).

Guests!  The dorm runners prepare to haul the luggage.  FYI, last year the dorm runners toted prefrosh bags on unicycles.  This year, they thought better of it.

Attendees, I hope you enjoyed the program as much as we did!  It was wonderful to meet all of you in person.  Thank you for being so gracious and for not being scared when I (despite Thyra's wise advice) spouted off random facts from your applications (sorry to Andrew, Katie, and Lydia -- I won't let it happen again).  And to everyone who was kind enough to mention you read my blog -- thank you!  That made my week. 

Can't get enough Mudd?  Our second admitted student chat (topic: "Academic Life") is tonight at 5:30 pm PDT.  Click on the chatroom link on the admitted student website for access.  See you there!

ASP Alert

Our Admitted Student Program starts Sunday, and as you can see in the video, it's been sixes and sevens trying to get everything in order.  It took all the student help we could muster just stuffing the folders.

Thanks to Leslie, Garrett, David, and Crystal (and Aasim and Hannah too) for their super speedy work.  Just look at the intensity!  Please, if you're coming for ASP, treasure your folder, created specially for you (and, okay, 175 of your new best friends).  And don't (fingers crossed) find any typos.

A Virtual Chat in Reality

Last night we hosted the first of three online chats for the admitted students.  The best part about online events?  No visuals.  So while the participants only see neat Arial words on a crisp white background, the back end actually looks like this:

Pizza, soda, laptops, mess.  We had a blast.  Thanks, admitted students, for giving us some laughter and some lively debate.  And an excuse for pizza.  Always appreciated.  And a very special thanks to Paige, Kyle, and Jennifer!  You were all fantastic. 

Missed the chat?  We'll be posting the full transcript online in the chat room lobby.  Stay tuned for the next event on April 14!

Admitted Student Chat Tonight!

Okay, admitted students -- tonight is the first in a series of three chats with members of the HMC community.  Tonight's topic?  Student life.  Joining us will be Senior Associate Dean of Students Guy Gerbick, Paige Pruitt '11, Kyle Chakos '13, and Jennifer Sharma '14.  Your friendly admission representative Peter Osgood will also be on hand.  I'll be moderating the chat.

Interested?  Pop in tonight from 5:30-6:30 pm PDT.  To get there, click on the "chatroom" link at the bottom of the admitted student webpage (under the heading "contact your classmates").  See you tonight!

Foster's Run

Gear up your unicycle: the annual 8.7 mile trip known as Foster's Run is today!  Those who survive the trip will be rewarded with a free donut & beverage from Donut Man in Glendora.  Needless to say I will not be in attendance -- I can't even ride a bicycle.  But the strawberry donuts look mighty tasty.

8 am, South Dorm courtyard.  BYOU.