March 7, 2025
The University of Montana Western Mathematics Department held the third annual BrainFest Mathematical Modeling Competition on Friday, February 21, where high school students from around the region competed for $500 and $250 scholarships.
BrainFest offers participants an immersive, hands-on problem-solving mathematical experience, showcasing the types of challenges Montana Western students and faculty tackle every block.
This year’s competition, subtitled” “Dragons of the Triassic Sea,” invited students to explore the evolution and diversification of ichthyosaurs—massive, dragon-like sea dinosaurs from the Triassic and early Jurassic periods. Participants competed in a virtual ecosystem to determine which species could best thrive over an 80-year period.
Created by Montana Western’s Mathematics Department, the competition involved three novel mathematical models to simulate ichthyosaur skeletal growth, ecological competitiveness, and life history. In the skeletal growth model, students adjusted the growth rate of various body parts, controlling the species’ overall size and the relative proportions of fins, mouth, tail, and more. These traits affected acceleration, cruising speed, turning radius, and other factors, which were then input into a competition model that measured the species’ relative hunting and survival skills.
Finally, the results of the competition model were fed into a life history model, simulating 80 years of population growth and decline. The most successful species at the end of the simulation was declared the winner.
Students from across the region participated in this year’s event, including those from Lame Deer, East Helena, Wisdom, Busby, Livingston, Basin (WY), and Dillon. They worked alongside UMW mathematics majors and professors, learning about ichthyosaurs, using MATLAB for mathematical modeling, and engaging in problem-solving and creative mathematical thinking. The two previous BrainFest competitions focused on velociraptors and pterosaurs, respectively.
“What impresses me about this competition is that the mathematical models are new each year. The high school students are participating in authentic mathematical research as they stress-test these models,” said Tyler Seacrest, Professor of Mathematics at UMW.
The event was organized by Professor Liz Wright. The mathematical models were created by UMW students Jonah Lindsey and Marcus Lombard, with assistance from Professors Eric Dyreson and Joseph Eason.
For more information or to learn how to get involved next year, please contact BrainFest Coordinator and UMW Assistant Professor of Developmental Mathematics, Liz Wright, at [email protected].
