Finalists for the 2022 Modeling the Future Challenge Announced
March 31, 2022
SCHAUMBURG, IL (March 31, 2022) – The Actuarial Foundation is proud to announce the finalists in the 2021-2022 Modeling the Future Challenge, a national scholarship competition giving high school students the opportunity to predict the future and solve world problems. Student participants in the Challenge take on the role of aspiring actuaries by completing a math modeling project and presenting their research to a panel of actuary judges for an opportunity to win up to $55,000 in scholarship awards.
Selected from a total of 197 teams of high school juniors and seniors from across the country, 54 students making up 13 teams have qualified to present at the 2022 Modeling the Future Challenge Virtual Symposium on May 3-5, 2022. The finalists are: Anand Advani, Shyla Bisht, Alyssa Gorbaneva, Owen Rollins, and Lillian Sun from Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia; Aishwarya Chakravarthy, Joanna Cheng, Diya Dinesh, and Hari Gajjala from Connecting Communities to Tech in Aldie, Virginia; Spandan Goel, Andrew Liu, Joy Qu, Greycen Ren, and Gabriel Visotsky from Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois; Alexis Eskenazi, Miraya Rehman, and Joanne Zhao from Castilleja School in Palo Alto, California; Sam Lichtman, William Pardo, Eric Qian, Jack Simmons, and Albert Tang from Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School in Richmond, Virginia; Aditya Chattopadhyay, Philip Guo, Jihwan Kim, Jason Liu, and Dhruv Pai from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland; Luther Busching, Sheldon Fields, Luke Hanson, Johnny Hill, and Aaron Johnson from Stevens High School in Rapid City, South Dakota; Yuta Ioriya from SAT Professionals in Diamond Bar, California; Jack Chen, Collin Fan, Aadit Juneja, Aayush Kashyap, and Nathan Ma from Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Summer Flowers, Chelsea He-Chen, Cindy Ho, Jackson La Vallee, and Philip Li from Walter Payton College Preparatory High School in Chicago, Illinois; Ashwin Bardhwaj from Mission Hills High School in San Marcos, California; Ace Chun, Daniel He, Steven Wang, Michael Wang, and Isabelle Yang from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring Maryland; and Alena Chao, Anh Do, Jua Ellie Ha, John Lee, and Michelle Thurber from Santa Teresa High School in San Jose, California.
The 2021-2022 Modeling the Future Challenge was once again an open-theme, allowing students to identify their own topics for their research projects. Topics for this year’s Challenge range from a cost-benefit analysis of melanoma screenings to greenhouse gas emissions to analysis of costs and solutions to homicides in Chicago. Teams were tasked with analyzing historic data and making models following the Actuarial Process. Of the 197 teams that registered and completed Phase One of the Challenge, 101 semi-finalist teams made it to Phase Two—the Project Phase. During the Project Phase, each team was matched with an actuarial mentor to provide the students with guidance on their project. Mentors met virtually with their teams three times during the project period to answer questions and help the team develop an actuarial report and presentation.
Finalist teams will present their models at the Virtual Modeling the Future Challenge Symposium on May 3-5, 2022. The Virtual Symposium is the culminating event of the competition, providing an immersive learning experience for students and giving them the opportunity to participate in career sessions, problem-solving activities, virtual tours, and other unique experiences created in partnership with the Foundation’s corporate supporters and volunteers. Finalist teams are excited and up for the Challenge! As finalist team member Spandan Goel from Stevenson High School said during the Finalist Announcement ceremony, “We would like to first and foremost thank The Actuarial Foundation for their efforts and resources dedicated to the Modeling the Future Challenge this year. We are excited to present at the Symposium in May. We congratulate all the other finalists, and we wish everyone luck in the next stage of the Competition. We are looking forward to seeing everyone’s work!”
The Modeling the Future Challenge is made possible with the generous support of Pathfinder Sponsor RGA Foundation, Pacesetter Sponsors Lincoln Financial Group, and Principal Foundation, Builder Sponsors Nationwide, Helen & James C. Galt and Rick & Beth Jones, and Founding Sponsors Roy & Georgia Goldman.
About The Actuarial Foundation
The Actuarial Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, is the philanthropic institution for the actuarial industry in the United States. The mission of the Foundation is to enhance math education and financial literacy through the talents and resources of actuaries. The Foundation’s vision is an educated public in pursuit of a secure financial future. Further information is available at: actuarialfoundation.org
About the Institute of Competition Sciences
Since 2012, the Institute of Competition Sciences (ICS) has been defining best practices in competition strategy, design and operations. ICS aims to spark a new level of community engagement in science, technology and education by supporting a network of educational competitions. For more information, please visit: competitionsciences.org
CONTACT:
Holly Monahan
The Actuarial Foundation
(847) 706-3659
Holly.Monahan@actfnd.org