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Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications

AMATYC: November 14-17, 2024, Atlanta, GA

Visit COMAP at booth 506 to find out about our modeling contests, membership options, and publications. COMAP staff will be in attendance to answer all your questions.

Workshop: A Practical Approach to Incorporating Mathematical Modeling into the Classroom

Mathematical modeling prepares students to navigate complex challenges facing our world, improving communication skills and comfort with ambiguity and complexity. Participants will experience mathematical modeling first-hand. They will be introduced to a wide range of resources to help bring elements of the modeling process into any existing courses.

Organizers:
Kayla Blyman, Saint Martin’s University
Shannon Ruth, Gateway Community College


JMM: January 8-11, 2025, Seattle WA

COMAP is proud to be a JMM partner. Be sure to visit COMAP at booth 506 to find out about our modeling contests, membership options and publications. COMAP staff will be in attendance to answer all your questions.

Workshops

Friday January 10, 2025, 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

COMAP Workshop: Become a COMAP MCM/ICM Judge: Who, What, When, Where, & Why

In this judge training workshop, members of COMAP's Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM) leadership teams will explain the judging process for the MCM and ICM contests. Participants will receive the information and training they need to sign up and be successful as a triage judge for the contests. Note: This session is not relevant to undergraduates or graduate students in their first two years of graduate study.

Location: Ravenna A, Sheraton Grand Seattle

Organizers:
Kayla Blyman, Saint Martin's University, COMAP MidMCM and ICM Contest Director

Keith Erickson, Georgia Gwinnett College, COMAP MCM Contest Associate Director


Saturday January 11, 2025, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

COMAP Workshop on Modeling for Educators: Introducing All Students to Modeling

This workshop will explore a variety of activities for introducing mathematical modeling to students with prerequisite knowledge of Algebra II or higher. This hands-on session will provide participants with the opportunity to build multiple real-world inspired models that utilize curricular mathematics and highlight modeling competencies. Approaches for adapting COMAP contest problems as well as known models for classroom use will also be explored. Numerous modeling resources will be shared.

Location: Tahoma 1, Seattle Convention Center Arch at 800 Pike

Moderators:
Kayla Blyman, Saint Martin's University, COMAP MidMCM and ICM Contest Director

Adewale Adeolu, Clarkson University

Organizers:
Ben Galluzzo, Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP) Executive Director, HiMCM Contest Director

Kayla Blyman, Saint Martin's University, COMAP MidMCM and ICM Contest Director


ATMNE: October 24 – 25, 2024, Nashua, NH

Friday, October 25th at 9:40 am

An invitation to enhance your classroom with real world math models
Ben Galluzzo, COMAP Executive Director, HiMCM Director

The Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (comap.org) is an education nonprofit with over 40 years experience supporting teachers with a focus on increasing student proficiency in mathematical modeling. In addition to introducing attendees to the extensive suite of free materials available to teachers and describing our modeling competitions for middle and high school students, attendees will experience mathematical modeling first-hand with some math activities based in the real-world. Let's answer the perennial student question, "When am I ever gonna use this?"


Operation Outbreak (OO) is partnering with COMAP to bring infectious disease simulations to life at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting.

NCTM: September 25-28, 2024, Chicago, IL

Considered the “premier mathematics education event of the year,” the NCTM Annual Meetings bring together thousands of mathematics educators from all over the world to collaborate, network, learn, and inspire.

Be sure to visit COMAP at booth 719 to find out about our modeling contests, membership options and publications. COMAP staff will be in attendance to answer all your questions.


COMAP Sessions:

Wednesday, September 25, 9:00 AM - Room S402 AB
NCTM/SIAM/COMAP joint committee pre-conference
Revealing the Brilliance of Students Through Mathematical Modeling 

The joint committee of NCTM-SIAM-COMAP is pleased to provide this workshop, where participants will learn about mathematical modeling as a mathematical practice they can draw on in their classroom practices. Participants will experience modeling tasks as learners and discuss teaching moves and pedagogical practices embedded in the modeling cycle. Through the workshop, participants will consider how modeling tasks can foster opportunities to build students’ mathematical identity and agency and foster connections across mathematical grade bands. We welcome people with all levels of experience in mathematical modeling. 

Facilitators: Karen Bryant, Benjamin Galluzzo, Joleigh Honey 

Goal: Our goal in this workshop is to support teachers in learning about mathematical modeling and drawing on this powerful practice as a tool to connect mathematics with students’ lived experiences. 

Outcomes:  

  • Engage in mathematical modeling problems and explore the components of the modeling process. 
  • Reflect on pedagogical practices embedded in the modeling cycle and how to foster students’ mathematical modeling competencies.  
  • Examine ways to use math modeling as a vehicle for promoting math identity and fostering curiosity in collaborative group settings. 

Participants will leave with: 

  • An understanding of what modeling is and examples of modeling tasks that are relevant and empowering for students.  
  • Ideas on the teacher’s role while students are working on a modeling problem and how to facilitate modeling tasks.  
  • Strategies to assess modeling tasks and ways to fit modeling into a curriculum 

Schedule:
9:00–9:30 AM - What is Math Modeling?
9:30–10:30 AM - Modeling Task: Breakouts by grade bands and experience (participants as students)
10:30–11:30 AM - Jigsaw/Share out/Logistics of Modeling in your classroom
11:30 AM–12:00 PM - Resources and next steps


Friday, September 27, 8:00AM - Room N426b - Session # 292:
COMAP Workshop with Kayla Blyman and Ben Galluzzo
Integrating Mathematical Modeling for All Students to Shine

Organizers:
Ben Galluzzo, COMAP Executive Director, HiMCM Director
Kayla Blyman, Saint Martin’s University, ICM and MidMCM Director
Maria Hernandez, NC School of Science and Mathematics


MAA MathFest: August 7-10, 2024, Indianapolis, IN

Contributed Paper Session: Environmental Science for Mathematics Students

Sustainability of our world and resources is one of the largest issues facing humanity. Environmental Mathematics serves to help understand many of the systems and understand critical features needed to analyze intervention strategies. Many professionals have found new and innovative ways to bring this topic to their students and we want to hear about it. This session welcomes talk proposals for natural resource modeling, sustainability, and climate science used in the classroom or for student research projects. We would particularly enjoy hearing how innovative research ideas translate into learning experiences for students.

Organizers:
Amanda Beecher, Ramapo College of New Jersey
Eric Marland, Appalachian State University
Russ deForest, Penn State University
Kevin Murphy, Dominican University
Kayla Blyman, Saint Martin's University


ICME-15: July 7-14, 2024 Sydney, Australia

COMAP will hold two panel discussion groups to introduce the ICME audience to the International Mathematical Modeling Challenge (IM2C) and describe what it means for mathematics education from the perspective of its organizers, student team members, faculty advisors, math educators, and policy makers.

Discussion Group: Assessing mathematical modelling tasks in the era of AI
Panelists: Rachael Whitney-Smith, Benjamin Galluzzo, Kristy Osborne, Tan Liang Soon, Peter Galbraith

Discussion Group: Mathematical Modelling as a Transformational Tool, IM2C as a Catalyst for Change
Panelists: Jill Brown, Angeles Dominguez Cuenca, Benjamin Galluzzo, Solomon Garfunkel, Irene Ferrando Palomares, Frederick Leung, Kristy Osborne


SIAM AN24 & ED24: July 8-12, 2024 Spokane, WA

Mini-Symposium: Mathematical Modeling: Contests, Courses, and Resources

Speakers will share about their experiences participating in COMAP’s MCM and ICM contests, the various levels of mathematical modeling courses they have developed for undergraduates, the ways they have integrated modeling into other courses, and they will share resources that others could use to do the same.

  • Allison Lewis (Lafayette College): Designing Open-Ended Modeling Projects to Balance Skill Assessment and Student Creativity
  • Kayla Blyman (Saint Martin’s University, ICM Contest Director): Writing and Broadly Applying Mathematical Modeling Contest Problems
  • Students from Pacific Lutheran University: A Student Perspective on Modeling the UN Sustainable Development Goals: COMAP ICM 2023 Problem D

ATMIM: Thursday, March 14, 2024 College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA

Reflections from Bringing the Real World into Real Classroom

Thursday, March 14, 2024, 8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m.

As an applied mathematician and math modeler, I enjoy open-ended messy problems. After 25 years teaching at the post-secondary level and 7 years leading the American Math Society, I am now privileged to lead the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications, a MA-based, 40+ year nonprofit dedicated to providing students & teachers with resources centered around math modeling. This semester, I'm teaching with COMAP materials to get front-line experience. How's it going so far? What are my mid- stream takeaways? How might you access quality materials to bring the real world into your classroom and inspire the next generations of students?

Catherine Roberts, COMAP CEO


JMM: January 3-6, 2024, San Francisco CA

COMAP is proud to be a JMM partner. Be sure to visit COMAP at booth 408 to find out about our modeling contests, membership options and publications. COMAP staff will be in attendance to answer all your questions.

Special Session

Friday January 5, 2024, 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

COMAP Special Session on Math Modeling Contests: What They Are, How They Benefit, What They Did -- Discussions with the Students and Advisors

Each year, thousands of HS and Undergrad students from around the world compete in COMAP's Math Modeling contests. In this session, you will hear from student teams and their advisors about their experiences. Topics will include how they heard about the contests, the problems they chose, how they prepared and competed in the contests.

Room 105, The Moscone Center

Organizer:
Kayla Blyman, Saint Martin's University

Contacts:
Catherine Roberts, COMAP
Keith Erickson, Georgia Gwinnett College

8:00 a.m.
About the Consortium for Mathematics & Its Applications
Catherine Roberts, COMAP
(1192-10-33913)

9:00 a.m.
Fungi, Trash, Bikes, and Wordle: Remembrance of Models Past
Steven Sofos DiSilvio, Columbia University
Anthony Ozerov, University of California, Berkeley
Leon Zhou, Columbia University
(1192-10-30716)

10:00 a.m.
Preparing Students and Building a Stronger Department Through the COMAP Competition in Mathematical Modeling
Benjamin R S McLaughlin, Asbury University
(1192-10-33319)

11:00 a.m.
100 Hours of MCM/ICM: The Abridged Version
Kayla Blyman, Saint Martin's University
Keith Erickson, Georgia Gwinnett College
(1192-10-33914)

Panels

COMAP Panel on Math Modeling Contests: Trends, Topics, and Tips, organized by Kayla Blyman, Saint Martin’s University; Keith Erickson, Georgia Gwinnett College, and Catherine Roberts, COMAP, Friday, 3:00–4:30 p.m. Math modeling problems and contests challenge students to apply their educational experiences and knowledge as part of a team to solve real-world problems. This panel will discuss the current trends we are seeing when it comes to math modeling competitions. They will discuss some recent topics and some of the innovative approaches that students have taken. There will be an opportunity for attendees to ask questions of the panelists.

Room 304, The Moscone Center

Workshops

COMAP Workshop: Become a COMAP MCM/ICM Judge: Who, What, When, Where, & Why, organized by Kayla Blyman, Saint Martin’s University, and Keith Erickson, Georgia Gwinnett College, Friday, 4:30–5:30 p.m. In this judge training workshop, members of COMAP’s Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM) leadership teams will explain the judging process for the MCM and ICM contests. Participants will receive the information and training they need to sign up and be successful as a triage judge for the contests. Note: This session is not relevant to undergraduates or graduate students in their first two years of graduate study.

Marriot Marquis, Foothill C

COMAP Workshop on Modeling for Educators: Introducing Students to Modeling in Your Classroom, organized by Ben Galluzzo, Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications and Clarkson University, and Adewale Adeolu, Clarkson University; Saturday, 1:00–5:00 p.m. This workshop will explore a variety of activities for introducing mathematical modeling in any mathematics course. This hands-on session will provide participants with the opportunity to build a model in M2Studio, a novel online environment for learning modeling, identify ways to utilize COMAP contest problems in class, and highlight the curricular uses of existing models. Numerous resources will be shared.

Room 202, The Moscone Center


COMAP Sessions

  • Math Modeling: The Power of Us!
  • How Cool Is Mathematics? HS & MS Students
    Design Drone Light Shows and Dog Parks Using Math Modeling
  • Building Community through Math Modeling and Tech Tools in High School
  • Math Modeling as a Vehicle to Catalyze Change

Operation Outbreak (OO) is partnering with COMAP to bring infectious disease simulations to life at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting.

NCTM: October 25-28, 2023, Washington DC

Visit COMAP at booth 726 to find out about our modeling contests, membership options and publications. COMAP staff will be in attendance to answer all your questions.

Schedule

  • Wednesday, October 25, 2023, 1:00 PM

    In this workshop, participants will engage in the mathematical modeling process through a common task. Participants will work collaboratively as they reflect on how this engagement can offer opportunities to build students’ math identity and agency across grade bands.

  • How Cool Is Mathematics? HS & MS Students Design Drone Light Shows and Dog Parks Using Math Modeling
    Thursday, October 26, 2023, 8:00 AM

    Students get excited about mathematics when teachers bring mathematical modeling into the classroom through real-world problems and applications. This session will show that with the motivation and desire to do so, along with some guidance and resources, teachers can engage students by integrating modeling into their mathematics classrooms.

  • Building Community through Math Modeling and Tech Tools in High School
    Thursday, October 26, 2023, 1:00 PM

    Modeling tasks and online collaborative tools can engage each and every student and help us foster a sense of belonging. These tasks and tools give us a way to honor students' ideas and contributions to the problem-solving process and help us support students' identity and agency. Come explore a relevant real-world problem and tech tools with us.

  • Math Modeling as a Vehicle to Catalyze Change
    Saturday, October 28, 2023, 9:30 AM

    Math modeling tasks and online collaborative tools can engage each and every student. They provide us with opportunities to invite students into the mathematical conversation, supporting students' identity and agency. Come explore how modeling spans grade bands, fosters inclusion, and aligns with key recommendations set forth by the Catalyzing Change series.


COMAP Sessions

  • Mathematical Modeling with Preservice (and In-Service) Teachers
  • Problem Creation and Problem Solving

MAA MathFest: August 2-5, 2023, Tampa FL

Session

Mathematical Modeling with Preservice (and In-Service) Teachers

Thursday, August 3, 4:00 p.m. - 5:55 p.m., Room 120

How and when are preservice teachers learning mathematical modeling and then learning how to teach mathematical modeling? This session invites speakers to share examples of modeling experiences and guidance in teaching modeling to future and current teachers. This modeling instruction may be found in teacher preparation courses, mathematics major courses, extracurricular activities, or teacher in-service workshops.

Organizers:
Amanda Beecher, Ramapo College
Kayla Blyman, St. Martin’s University
Blain Patterson, Virginia Military Institute
Catherine Paolucci, University of Florida

Sponsors:
Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP)
SIGMAA on Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (SIGMAA MKT)

Schedule


Session

Problem Creation and Problem Solving

Saturday, August 5, 8:00 a.m. - 11:55 a.m., Room 120

Problem creation and problem solving are fundamental not only in mathematics research, but also in mathematics education and outreach. This area ranges from journals with problem solving sections to competitions (institutional, regional, national, and international). We invite submissions on creating problems and teaching problem solving in co-curricular and classroom settings, such as leading problem-solving clubs and teaching problem-solving classes. We encourage speakers to discuss successful strategies in creating/solving problems and effective ways to address the challenges.

Organizers:
Mohammad K. Azarian, University of Evansville
Jeremiah Bartz, University of North Dakota
Steven J. Miller, Williams College
Chenyang Sun, Williams College

COMAP Schedule

  • Writing Effective International Modeling Contest Problems for MCM/ICM
    11:40 a.m. - 11:55 a.m.

    Amanda Beecher, Ramapo College of New Jersey
    Kayla Blyman, Saint Martin's University