420 The UMAP Journal 22.4(2001) Presentation Some papers revealed tremendous analysis but lacked clarity in the pre- sentation. The strong papers presented the problem, discussed the data and explained their analysis, and finally revealed the development of their math- ematical methods/models. The big difference in papers was whether they informed the reader of what they did and, more important, how they did it. A clear presentation allowed the judge to comprehend their logic and reasoning One judge noted that he wished he was a mind reader because there was clearly lots of outstanding work; however, only the result was revealed. The strong papers revealed their analysis, not just the result Very broadly, we saw two types of weak presentations. The first consisted of reports that had a significant narrative, but no support in the form of math- ematical modeling or analysis. In these reports, the groups appeared to rely on qualitative observations and the information from the literature(web sites) to reach conclusions. The other type of poor-quality report was those that had a significant amount of mathematics in the form of tables and graphs, but no modeling or analysis to pull it together. These papers appeared to dump their computer runs into the report but did not really know what to do with them This year we noticed that the stronger teams clearly documented informa- tion they gathered from outside sources. When constructed models aligned very closely with models found in the open literature, it became difficult for judges to determine what was original work. Conclusion The effort and creativity of almost every team was inspiring. It appear however, that most teams can reason better than they can communicate. Often wonderful ideas were not revealed to the reader. The necessity to work with large data sets appeared much more difficult than anticipated. The top papers, however, did an amazing effort of blending and revealing the science research and mathematics. The best teams revealed the power of interdisciplinary prob lem solving About the author Gary Krahn received his Ph D in Applied Mathematics at the Naval Post- graduate School. He is currently the Head of the Dept of Mathematical Sci- ences at the u.s. military academy at West point. his current interests are in the study of generalized de bruijn sequences for communication and coding applications. He enjoys his role as a judge and Associate Director of the ICM
420 The UMAP Journal 22.4 (2001) Presentation Some papers revealed tremendous analysis but lacked clarity in the presentation. The strong papers presented the problem, discussed the data and explained their analysis, and finally revealed the development of their mathematical methods/models. The big difference in papers was whether they informed the reader of what they did and, more important, how they did it. A clear presentation allowed the judge to comprehend their logic and reasoning. One judge noted that he wished he was a mind reader because there was clearly lots of outstanding work; however, only the result was revealed. The strong papers revealed their analysis, not just the results. Very broadly, we saw two types of weak presentations. The first consisted of reports that had a significant narrative, but no support in the form of mathematical modeling or analysis. In these reports, the groups appeared to rely on qualitative observations and the information from the literature (web sites) to reach conclusions. The other type of poor-quality report was those that had a significant amount of mathematics in the form of tables and graphs, but no modeling or analysis to pull it together. These papers appeared to dump their computer runs into the report but did not really know what to do with them. This year we noticed that the stronger teams clearly documented information they gathered from outside sources. When constructed models aligned very closely with models found in the open literature, it became difficult for judges to determine what was original work. Conclusion The effort and creativity of almost every team was inspiring. It appears, however, that most teams can reason better than they can communicate. Often, wonderful ideas were not revealed to the reader. The necessity to work with large data sets appeared much more difficult than anticipated. The top papers, however, did an amazing effort of blending and revealing the science, research, and mathematics. The best teams revealed the power of interdisciplinary problem solving. About the Author Gary Krahn received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at the Naval Postgraduate School. He is currently the Head of the Dept. of Mathematical Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. His current interests are in the study of generalized de Bruijn sequences for communication and coding applications. He enjoys his role as a judge and Associate Director of the ICM
Author 's co Author's Commentary: The Outstanding Zebra Mussel Papers Sandra a. nierzwicki-Bauer Darrin fresh Water institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute TroV. ny 12180 nierzs@rpi. edu Introduction One cannot underestimate the potential impact of exotic aqu In particular, the zebra mussel, a small, fingernail-sized freshwater mollusk that was unintentionally introduced to North America via ballast water from a transoceanic vessel, has caused havoc to say the least! Zebra mussels have significantly impacted electrical power generation stations, drinking water treatment plants, industrial facilities, navigation lock and dam structures, and recreational water bodies. In fact. zebra mussels cause an estimated s5 billion in economic damage annually, with this amount continuing to escalate. The zebra mussel problem is a national one, which impacts over half of the fifty states. In light of the ecologically devastating and costly consequences of ze bra mussels, it is imperative that there is increased education, research, and science-based policy As revealed in this years contest the use of real data sets means work ing with numerous variables and sometimes incomplete information. Addi tionally, the facts that need to be considered when trying to address issues surrounding the success or failure of zebra mussels to spread and survive are complex. Many important and complex environmental problems lie at the in terface of disciplines and therefore require interdisciplinary approaches to be addressed. Interdisciplinary training is more than learning and acquiring the ability to talk different languages across disciplinary boundaries. It is an ap- proach that promotes teamwork, innovation, creativity, and" out-of-the-box thinking for solving"real-world"issues and problems. The interdisciplinary problem contest plays a vital role in this experiential training bringing together The UMAP 22 (4)(2001)421-425. Copyright 2001 by COMAP, Inc. Allrights reserved Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice. Abstracting with credit is permitted, but copyrights for components of this work owned by others than COMAP must be honored. To copy otherwise to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists requires prior permission from COMAP
Author’s Commentary 421 Author’s Commentary: The Outstanding Zebra Mussel Papers Sandra A. Nierzwicki-Bauer Darrin Fresh Water Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY 12180 nierzs@rpi.edu Introduction One cannot underestimate the potential impact of exotic aquatic species. In particular, the zebra mussel, a small, fingernail-sized freshwater mollusk that was unintentionally introduced to North America via ballast water from a transoceanic vessel, has caused havoc to say the least! Zebra mussels have significantly impacted electrical power generation stations, drinking water treatment plants, industrial facilities, navigation lock and dam structures, and recreational water bodies. In fact, zebra mussels cause an estimated $5 billion in economic damage annually, with this amount continuing to escalate. The zebra mussel problem is a national one, which impacts over half of the fifty states. In light of the ecologically devastating and costly consequences of zebra mussels, it is imperative that there is increased education, research, and science-based policy. As revealed in this year’s contest, the use of real data sets means working with numerous variables and sometimes incomplete information. Additionally, the facts that need to be considered when trying to address issues surrounding the success or failure of zebra mussels to spread and survive are complex. Many important and complex environmental problems lie at the interface of disciplines and therefore require interdisciplinary approaches to be addressed. Interdisciplinary training is more than learning and acquiring the ability to talk different languages across disciplinary boundaries. It is an approach that promotes teamwork, innovation, creativity, and “out-of-the-box” thinking for solving “real-world” issues and problems. The interdisciplinary problem contest plays a vital role in this experiential training bringing together The UMAP Journal 22 (4) (2001) 421–425. c Copyright 2001 by COMAP, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice. Abstracting with credit is permitted, but copyrights for components of this work owned by others than COMAP must be honored. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists requires prior permission from COMAP
422 The UMAP Journal 22. 4 (2001) teams of students that are focused for four days on"solving" a complex prob lem. The breadth of approaches that were used by the teams this year was truly Impressive. Basis for Contest Question: Queen of the American Lakes, Lake George, NY Until recently, it was thought that zebra mussels had not invaded Lake George, New York, the home of the Darrin Fresh Water Institute DFWD) Since 1995, the DFWI had carried out a zebra mussel monitoring program in Lake George where zebra mussel larvae had been observed in only two of the years In 1997, larval zebra mussel numbers at 1 of 11 locations were comparable to those observed in the Hudson River, an area of high zebra mussel colonization Despite the presence of larvae, no adult zebra mussels or settled juveniles had been observed. In December of 1999, the situation changed when two divers from the Bateaux Below Inc, a nonprofit organization dedicated to underwater archaeology, found adult zebra mussels at the southern end of lake george In response to the discovery of these mussels, the dFWI has been working intensively at the site to determine why adult zebra mussels were able to survive and reproduce, ways in which they could have been introduced to this location and an appropriate action to eradicate them from this location The discovery of zebra mussels in Lake George was particularly surpris ing given the low calcium content and low pH of the lake; laboratory tank experiments had previously shown that zebra mussel larvae would not sur vive under these conditions. However, water chemistry analyses conducted at the site where the mussels were found revealed calcium and ph levels higher than that characteristic of the majority of Lake George. Further investigation revealed that water entering the lake from a nearby culvert was introducing stormwater runoff and groundwater into the lake with calcium levels four times higher than that characteristic of the rest of the lake. In addition, the site contains numerous concrete and rock aggregates that are likely sources of additional calcium. Finally, there is potential contribution of calcium from a concrete boardwalk that was built approximately a year before the discovery of zebra mussels at this location troduction of zebra mussels may have occurred when boats contaminated from other lakes entered Lake george at the boat launch adjacent to the site Introduction could also have occurred during the construction of the nearby boardwalk via contaminated equipment. The exact mechanism(s) by which they were introduced may never be known After discovering zebra mussels in Lake George, the dFWI and Bateaux Be low scuba divers carried out an extensive survey of the location to determine the size of the affected area. The mussels were confined to a 15, 000 square foot area. After consultation with state and local agencies, it was agreed that
422 The UMAP Journal 22.4 (2001) teams of students that are focused for four days on “solving” a complex problem. The breadth of approaches that were used by the teams this year was truly impressive. Basis for Contest Question: Queen of the American Lakes, Lake George, NY Until recently, it was thought that zebra mussels had not invaded Lake George, New York, the home of the Darrin Fresh Water Institute (DFWI). Since 1995, the DFWI had carried out a zebra mussel monitoring program in Lake George where zebra mussel larvae had been observed in only two of the years. In 1997, larval zebra mussel numbers at 1 of 11 locations were comparable to those observed in the Hudson River, an area of high zebra mussel colonization. Despite the presence of larvae, no adult zebra mussels or settled juveniles had been observed. In December of 1999, the situation changed when two divers from the Bateaux Below Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to underwater archaeology, found adult zebra mussels at the southern end of Lake George. In response to the discovery of these mussels, the DFWI has been working intensively at the site to determine why adult zebra mussels were able to survive and reproduce, ways in which they could have been introduced to this location, and an appropriate action to eradicate them from this location. The discovery of zebra mussels in Lake George was particularly surprising given the low calcium content and low pH of the lake; laboratory tank experiments had previously shown that zebra mussel larvae would not survive under these conditions. However, water chemistry analyses conducted at the site where the mussels were found revealed calcium and pH levels higher than that characteristic of the majority of Lake George. Further investigation revealed that water entering the lake from a nearby culvert was introducing stormwater runoff and groundwater into the lake with calcium levels four times higher than that characteristic of the rest of the lake. In addition, the site contains numerous concrete and rock aggregates that are likely sources of additional calcium. Finally, there is potential contribution of calcium from a concrete boardwalk that was built approximately a year before the discovery of zebra mussels at this location. Introduction of zebra mussels may have occurred when boats contaminated from other lakes entered Lake George at the boat launch adjacent to the site. Introduction could also have occurred during the construction of the nearby boardwalk via contaminated equipment. The exact mechanism(s) by which they were introduced may never be known. After discovering zebra mussels in Lake George, the DFWI and Bateaux Below SCUBA divers carried out an extensive survey of the location to determine the size of the affected area. The mussels were confined to a 15,000 squarefoot area. After consultation with state and local agencies, it was agreed that