IMO scores are based on the number of points scored by individual team members on six problems. The problems are taken in sets of three in 4.5 hour sessions over two days. The U.S. team’s combined score of 185 edged out the Chinese team’s score of 181 and the Republic of Korea’s third-place score of 161.
Members of the U.S. team included Ryan Alweiss, Allen Liu, Yang Liu, Shyam Narayanan, and David Stoner, all of whom were awarded gold medals, and Michael Kural, who earned a silver medal, just one point away from the gold. The last time the U.S. team took first place was in 1994.
Participants on the U.S. team were selected through a series of competitions organized by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), culminating with the USA Mathematical Olympiad. The six team members joined 48 of their peers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in June for three weeks of immersion in problem solving at MAA’s Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP). Established in 1974 to train the first U.S. team to the IMO, MOSP has expanded over the years and broadened its goals. MOSP is organized by the MAA, which sustains the program each year with the support of a number of donors including the Akamai Foundation and the Simons Foundation.
Po-Shen Loh, who is a member of the mathematics faculty at CMU, directs MOSP and leads the USA IMO team. Loh is excited about the success of the six students, and sees the success of the team as an outgrowth of the extended goals of the program. As quoted in an article posted this week on the Simons Foundation website, Loh notes that “the focus of our program should be to recognize that we have 54 of the most impactful high school students in terms of potential, and we should help them be successful long-term,”
About the IMO: The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is the World Championship Mathematics Competition for High School students and is held annually in a different host country. The first IMO was held in 1959 in Romania, with seven countries participating. Today more than 100 countries from six continents participate.
About MAA: The Mathematical Association of America is the largest professional society that focuses on making mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Formed in 1915, the Association has members that include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure and applied mathematicians; computer scientists; statisticians; and many others in academia, government, business, and industry who are interested in the mathematical sciences.
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