Cal Poly Fares Well at Putnam, Modeling Competitions

Putnam Competition

The Cal Poly team — which consisted of Brian Jones, Christopher Hurley and Michael Blakeman — placed 84 out of 554 participating institutions at the annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. Other Cal Poly students competed as individuals. This year’s contest was a difficult one, even by the standards of the Putnam Competition. The median score was 0 out of 120.  

The best individual scores at Cal Poly were from Michael Boulos with a score of 12 points for a ranking of 504.5 out of 4,275 competitors followed by Michael Blakeman and Alex Radermacher with 11 points each. The six-hour exam consists of 12 problems solved in two three-hour sittings, no calculators allowed.

Mathematical Contest in Modeling

Four Cal Poly teams competed against more than 7,400 international teams from 13 countries in this year's Mathematical Contest in Modeling. The teams earned two Meritorious Awards, given to teams in the top eight percent; one Honorable Mention, given to the top 44 percent, and one Successful Participant. Only 35 teams, or 0.05 percent, placed above Meritorious Award.