Success adds up for university math team members in Putnam competition
Thursday, April 13, 2017
MANHATTAN — Seven Kansas State University students have placed highly in the 77th annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, the most prestigious mathematics contest for undergraduates at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
According to results released by the Mathematical Association of America, the Kansas State University team finished in the top 18 percent of the 568 colleges and universities and 4,164 students that participated in the competition. The team also had one member who placed in the top 26 percent in the competition: Aaron Messerla, senior in mathematics, Manhattan.
Along with Messerla, team members and their placements in the competition:
Daniel Bramucci, senior in mathematics and computer science, Junction City, top 28 percent; Eric Giunta, junior in mathematics and mechanical engineering, Leawood, top 41 percent; Nicholas Donohoue, senior in mathematics and physics, Manhattan, top 32 percent; Reid Erdwien, senior in mathematics and physics, Manhattan,top 32 percent; Caden Laptad, senior in mathematics and mathematics education, Olathe, top 51 percent; and Tristan Wells Filbert, senior in mathematics and physics, Wichita, top 38 percent.
Coaches for the university's Putnam competition team include the following Kansas State University mathematics faculty members: David Auckly, Ivan Blank, Todd Cochrane, Xiannan Li, Zongzhu Lin, Tom Muenzenberger, Gabriel Nagy, Virginia Naibo, Christopher Pinner, Pietro Poggi-Corradini, Rustam Sadykov, Craig Spencer, Victor Turchin, Dan Volok, Anna Zemlyanova and Ilia Zharkov.
