USAMO Qualifiers

AMC recently announced the students invited to sit for the USA Mathematical Olympiad.  This is a tremendous accomplishment following exemplary performance on the AMC 10 or 12 and a high score on the AIME.  The qualifiers from Texas are:

Every student representing Texas at the USAMO deserves to be very proud.  However, Metroplex Math Circle is particularly proud that one of our most regular attendees is by far the youngest student on the national list.

Michael Ma, as a fourth grader received a perfect score on the AMC 10 and followed it up with a performance on the AIME that is beyond all but the best high school students.  MMC cannot claim the credit for this terrific success (that belongs to Michael and his family) but Michael does exemplify the hard work and talent that Dr. Andreescu seeks to identify and encourage.

Please join us in congratulating Michael on his continued success.

2008 AMC 8 Perfect Scores

Perfect Scores (25 out of 25) for the 2008 AMC 8 were posted this week.  Texas had its share including the well represented schools in Sugar Land which also produce some of the strongest MATHCOUNTS teams.

Here is a list of the perfect scorers in Texas, congratulations to them all!

Steven Chen,  Spicewood Acad, Austin
Pradhith Konduri, Harmony Sch of Excl, Houston
Xinghua Dou, T H Rogers SS, Houston
Michael Marino, T H Rogers SS, Houston
Paul Miller, Atascocita MS, Humble
Richard Kim, St Paul Luth School, McAllen
Gene Hsu, First Colony MS, Sugar Land
Mitchell Hwang, First Colony MS, Sugar Land
Bobby Shen, First Colony MS, Sugar Land
Lilly Shen, First Colony MS, Sugar Land
Zachary Tu, Fort Settlement MS, Sugar Land
Benjamin Tu, Fort Settlement MS, Sugar Land
Haotian Wu, Fort Settlement MS, Sugar Land

2008 AMC 8 Results

The results of the 2008 AMC 8 contest have been reported.  Many of our Math Circle students participated and distinguished themselves this year.  Several North Texas schools also stood out with the sum of their top 3 scores exceeding 66 (out of 75):

• Hockaday
• McLean Middle School (Fort Worth)
• Rice Middle School (Plano)
• Robinson Middle School (Plano)
• St. Mark’s School of Texas
• Testbrain Prep Center (Coppell)

Unfortunately too many schools still do not offer this important contest.  Please start now to lobby your own school system to not only offer the AMC 8 but to help students prepare for it.

Here is a distribution of scores on the 25 point test.

Creation of Tier One Universities in Texas

UT Dallas has been very generous in supporting Metroplex Math Circle which invests in the multi-year achievement and enlightenment of our students.  I read with great interest the the University of Texas at Dallas is also committed to a multi-year plan with the goal of become a Tier One Research University.

These twin investments will converge over the next 10 years as some of our most talented students are given the option to work with the world’s best faculty and students here in North Texas.  UT Dallas President, Dr. David E. Daniels makes the good point that this is not the case today and that our region suffers from it:

In Fall, 2006:

• Texas sent 10,163 high school students to doctoral granting universities in other states
• Texas attracted 4,358 high school graduates from other states to doctoral-granting Texas universities
• Texas had a net brain drain of 5,815 high school students to universities in other states in 2006
• The problem is worsening –the loss increased 54% from 2000 to 2006.

Following are some more documents from UT Dallas describing their plan to elevate the campus from an already leading research university to a true Tier One.

What is Tier One?

Texas is home to three outstanding Tier One universities: Rice, Texas A&M, and UT Austin. Maintaining the strengths of these institutions relative to the best universities in the nation is vital. But this will not be enough to keep Texas competitive in the face of what has become a global contest for talent, ideas, home-grown advances, and economic development. Texas must develop more top-tier universities, particularly in the major population centers of the state. Texas lags states such as California and New York in this area, and pays the price. read more

Tier One Proposal, Executive Summary

Thoughts on the Creation of Tier One Universities in Texas

Presentation on Tier One (Slideshow | Printable)

President David E. Daniel is interviewed about Tier One on KERA-FM