CSM engineering student Cody Graham of Great Mills practices his robot driving skills in preparation for a robotics competition between the CSM’s collegiate team, the Talons, and Old Dominion University, Virginia Tech, Utah State University Eastern Blanding and other colleges Feb. 6 in La Plata. Graham uses his math skills as the team’s lead programmer and placed first in Maryland and fifth in the Mid-Atlantic after Round 1 of the American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges Student Math League competition during the fall semester.
The College of Southern Maryland Math Team leads the state following round 1 of the American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges Student Math League competition during the fall semester. The team of 60 students with majors as diverse as engineering, computer science and biology has been preparing since September and the hard work paid off. The team came away No. 1 out of eight schools in Maryland, No. 2 out of 17 schools in the Mid-Atlantic Region and No. 36 in the nation out of 178 schools competing. The top five scores out of the 60 participants comprised the team score.
In addition to the team competition, three students placed in the top 10 in Maryland and in the top 20 in the Mid-Atlantic Region: Cody Graham of Great Mills, placed first in Maryland and fifth in the Mid-Atlantic; Alexander Tyo of La Plata, placed third in Maryland and 11th in the Mid-Atlantic; and Suleiman Rabie of Indian Head, placed sixth in Maryland and 19th in the Mid-Atlantic.
“CSM, like all community colleges, has a diverse student body and some of our students are quite amazing,” said CSM Mathematics Professor Steven Hundert, who, along with professors Jim Cleary, Josh Groseck, Sarah Hand, Sandra Poinsett, Tom Seremet, Donna Sperry and Susan Strickland are involved with the CSM Math Team.
“The student math league exam requires not only strong mathematical skills but, in order to do well, students must be smart creative problem-solvers. Our top players are some of the best in the Mid-Atlantic Region and rank in the top quarter in the nation. This is primarily due to their own intelligence and drive but the public schools and CSM should get a little credit for the education they provide,” said Hundert.
“CSM has participated in the math league competition for around 20 years and we have always been in the top three in the state and top five in the Mid-Atlantic region. The 2013-14 academic year was our best year as CSM was No. 14 in the nation out of 183 schools,” said Hundert.
Round 2 of the competition takes place on Feb. 27 on all campuses.