The International Mathematical Modeling Challenge (IMMC or sometimes IM2C) is an international mathematical modeling competition for high school students in team mathematical modeling co-sponsored by COMAP[1] and the NeoUnion ESC Organization.[2][3] Teams are selected on a country-by-country basis, with each country sending its top two teams to the competition. The IMMC was inspired by the HiMCM, a similar contest sponsored by COMAP but mainly attracting teams within the United States.[4] The HiMCM in turn was established in the 1990s to create a high school counterpart to COMAP’s MCM.[5][6][7] Contestants in the IMMC are given five days to research (the contest permits the use of any inanimate source) and write a mathematical paper detailing their mathematical model for a given situation.[8] At the conclusion of the five-day period, papers are sent to an international expert committee composed of mathematics faculty from the world’s leading universities. Traditionally, 2-4 teams are awarded the top designation of Outstanding and invited to an awards ceremony, held in a different country or region each year.[9]
Team selection
Each participating country is expected to choose its two best teams of one to four contestants each to compete in the IMMC. Globally, different methods have been used to select teams from their respective countries.
Hong Kong holds the contest early and allows any interested team to participate.[10] A national judging panel selects the two best papers to move on to the international round of the competition. In 2015, 60 papers came out of the Greater China region alone.[11]
In 2015, the United States used a different qualification process, inviting the top two teams from the 2014 HiMCM to compete in the IMMC. In 2016, the United States adopted a hybrid of Hong Kong’s approach and its own former approach: any team receiving a score of Meritorious or higher in the 2015 HiMCM (roughly 25% of competing teams) was invited to compete in the 2016 IMMC. As in Hong Kong, the United States held the IMMC early, completed a national round of judging, and selected the two best papers to move on to the international round.[12]
Most countries use a selection process similar to that used by Hong Kong, and countries entering the IMMC for the first time will also likely adopt a similar process.[13][14]
Judging
Papers passing the national selection round move on to the international expert judging panel. In 2015, the Expert Panel included:[15]
Dr. Frank Giordano, Naval Postgraduate School, USA, former Head of the Department of Mathematics at West Point Military Academy (Chair)
Dr. Konstantin K. Avilov, Institute for Numerical Mathematics, Russia
Four were awarded the Honorable Mention designation:[27]
Mahidol Wittayanusorn School, Thailand
IGiL SB RAS, Russia
Pui Ching Middle School, Macau
Gymnazium Alejova 1, Slovakia
Two were awarded the Successful Participant designation:[27]
PENTA College CSG, The Netherlands
Gymnazium Postova 9, Slovakia
2016
40 teams from the following 23 countries or regions competed in the 2016 IMMC:
Australia
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
People's Republic of China
Germany
Hong Kong
Japan
Macau
Malaysia
Mexico
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Philippines
Russia
Singapore
Slovakia
South Korea
Taiwan
Thailand
United Kingdom
United States of America
Of these teams, three were awarded the top designation of International Outstanding and invited to the awards ceremony at the International Congress on Mathematics Education in Hamburg, Germany:[31]
Beijing National Day School, Beijing, People's Republic of China
OLVE Lourdescollege, Edegem, Belgium
Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Philippine Science High School, Metro Manila, Philippines (x2)
Kanazawa University Senior High School, Ishikawa, Japan (x2)
First English Language School, Sofia, Bulgaria
Liceo Eduardo De La Barra, Valparaiso, Chile
Senator O'Connor College School, North York, Ontario, Canada
Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus E., Nuevo León, México (x2)
Gymnasium Westerburg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
2017
49 teams from the following 27 countries/regions competed in the 2017 IMMC: [33]
Argentina
Australia
Canada
China
Denmark
Germany
Hong Kong (SAR)
Israel
Japan
Macau (SAR)
Malaysia
Mexico
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Singapore
Slovakia
South Korea
Taiwan
Thailand
The Netherlands
Turkey
United States of America
US Virgin Islands
Of these teams, one was awarded the top designation of International Outstanding and invited to the awards ceremony at the Harvard University, Cambridge MA., USA along with three randomly selected Meritorious teams from Argentina, South Korea and Russia.[34][33]
Ukarumpa International School (1), Ukarumpa, EHP, Papua New Guinea
Utrechts Stedelijk Gymnasium (1), Utrecht, The Netherlands
II Liceum Ogólnokształcące z Oddziałami (1), Warszawa, Mazowieckie, Poland
SMJK Katholik Petaling Jaya, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Whangarei Boys High School, Whangarei, New Zealand
Philippine Science High School - Main Campus (1), Quezon City, Philippines
Jerusalem College of Technology, Jerusalem, Israel
Kaohsiung Municipal Kaohsiung Senior High School, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
John Monash Science School, Clayton, VIC, Australia
Pui Ching Middle School, Macau, Macau (SAR)
Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
II Liceum Ogólnokształcące z Oddziałami (2), Warszawa, Mazowieckie, Poland
Shanghai Jianping High School, Shanghai, China
Kanazawa University Senior High School (1), Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
North London Collegiate School Jeju, Seogwipo, Jeju Island, South Korea
H.C. Orsteds Gymnasiet (1), Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Utrechts Stedelijk Gymnasium (2), Utrecht, The Netherlands
Madeans College, Bucklands Beach, Auckland, New Zealand
Taichung Girls' Senior High School, Taichung City, Taiwan
Raffles Girls' School, Singapore
Gymnazium Postova 9, Kosice, Slovakia
Kanazawa University Senior High School (2), Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
Fourteen were awarded the Successful Participant designation:[33]
H.C. Orsteds Gymnasiet (2), Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Ukarumpa International School (2), Ukarumpa, EHP, Papua New Guinea
Uygarlik ve Bilgi Okulu, Izmir, Turkey
Gymnazium Paula Horova, Slovakia
St. Croix Central High School (1), Christiansted, VI, US Virgin Islands
St. John Paul II Catholic Secondary School, Scarborough, ON, Canada
Secondary School of Valongo, Valongo, Portugal
Philippine Science High School - Main Campus (2), Quezon City, Philippines
Kamnoetvidya Science Academy School, Rayong, Thailand (x2)
Jurong Junior College, Singapore
St. Croix Central High School (2), Christiansted, VI, US Virgin Islands
Eyuboglu College, Istanbul, Umraniye, Turkey
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
68 teams from the following 36 countries/regions competed in the 2024 IMMC: [35]
Argentina
Australia
Azerbaijan
Austria
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Egypt
Germany
Hong Kong (SAR)
Indonesia
Ireland
Macau (SAR)
Mexico
Nepal
the Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Pakistan
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Singapore
Slovakia
South Korea
Spain
Syria
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
USA
Vietnam
Of these teams, two were awarded the top designation of International Outstanding and invited to the award ceremony at The Education University of Hong Kong (EduHK), Hong kong SAR, China, along with three randomly selected Meritorious teams from Australis (2), and Macau (SAR). [36]
Two teams were awarded the International Outstanding designation:
The 2015 IMMC winning teams from the USA, Singapore, and China were brought to Hong Kong for the IMMC Award Presentation Ceremony on 5 July 2015 at Hong Kong University, sponsored by Guangdong Qtone Education Co., Knowledge Magazine, Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, Competition on System Modeling & Optimization (COSMO), CUHK, HKACE, and the Hong Kong Entrepreneurs and Executives Club.
Special guests included Hong Kong political leader the Honorable Mrs. Fanny Law and movie directors Mr Tsui Siu-Ming and Mr Tang Yat-Ming.[37] Professor Frederick Leung, Chairman of the Board of Faculty, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, gave the opening speech.[38] Law encouraged educators in Hong Kong and elsewhere to continue to pursue the type of educational innovation promoted by the IMMC. Given that the 2015 problem revolved around mathematically modeling a movie filming production schedule, directors Tsui and Tang discussed their own experiences in the movie industry and how applicable teams’ models were to real-world movie filming decisionmaking.[39][40]
The 2016 IMMC winning teams from the USA and Hong Kong, in addition to the Meritorious German team, were brought to Hamburg, Germany for the IMMC Award Ceremony on 26 July 2016 at the University of Hamburg as part of the quadrennial International Congress on Mathematical Education. Dr. Sol Garfunkel described how the contest has evolved and discussed plans for the future.
On August 7, 2017, with the efforts by COMAP and NeoUnion ESC Organization an award ceremony was held at Harvard University, Cambridge MA., USA. The Outstanding team from the USA and three randomly chosen Meritorious teams from Argentina, South Korea and Russia were invited to attend.
2020 This year due to the closing of venues caused by Covid-19 there will be no formal IMMC awards ceremony. Rather IMMC will make resources available to schools and countries/regions of the Outstanding teams to allow them to fund local ceremonies which they can schedule as their situations permit. It is our hope to hold the 2021 award ceremonies at the new dates for ICME in Shanghai.
2021 This year due to the continued effects of Covid-19 there will be no formal in person IMMC awards ceremony. Rather IMMC will make resources available to schools and countries/regions of the top teams to allow them to fund local ceremonies which they can schedule as their situations permit. However, ICME Shanghai, China was held as a hybrid event where teams will be acknowledged virtually and videos from the winning teams were featured on the afternoon of July 15, 2021.
2022 This year due to the closing of venues caused by Covid-19 there will be no formal IMMC awards ceremony. Rather IMMC will make resources available to schools and countries/regions of the Outstanding teams to allow them to fund local ceremonies which they can schedule as their situations permit.
2023 There will be no formal IMMC award ceremony this year again. Rather IMMC will make resources available to schools and countries/regions of the Outstanding teams to allow them to fund local ceremonies which they can schedule as their situations permit. [41]
2024 IMMC organized an IMMC Summit and The 2024 IMMC Awards Ceremony, August 3-7, 2024 at The Education University of Hong Kong (EduHK) in Hong Kong (SAR) China with EdUHK's financial support as co-organizer. The two Outstanding teams from Hong kong (SAR) and China mainland were invited, along with three randomly selected Meritorious teams from Australis (2), and Macau (SAR). [36]
Media coverage
The IMMC has received broad press coverage throughout the world, with the majority of coverage concentrated in the U.S. and Greater China. The IMMC has been featured by:
