Mathematical modeling students from around the world came together in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 8 for the 2026 International Mathematical Modeling Challenge (IM²C) International Summit.

Getting there started months earlier. Students participate through IM²C programs in their own countries and regions. In the United States, students enter COMAP’s High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HiMCM)®. Participating countries and regions can then select up to two teams to advance to the international round.

IM²C challenges secondary school teams to take on an open-ended, real-world problem using mathematical modeling. There isn't one right answer or a prescribed way to get there. Teams have to decide how to approach the problem, determine what matters, make and test assumptions, build their models, and explain the solution they developed.

Teams reaching the international round have five consecutive days to work on the challenge before an international panel of judges reviews their solutions.

This year's problem, Protecting Wildlife at Scale, drew 68 teams from 37 countries and regions to the international round. Teams receiving a Meritorious Award were then invited to Boston for the International Summit and several days of activities leading up to it.

Twenty-seven students from nine of those teams made the trip. They toured Boston, spent time at MIT and Harvard, attended MAA MathFest, met students from other teams, and ultimately had the chance to present the solutions they had developed during the Challenge.

For Alfred Zhang, Director of NeoUnion ESC Organization and a longtime leader in organizing IM²C, bringing the Summit to Boston also marked an important milestone for IM²C. “This year the IM²C International Summit was held in Boston, which officially completes the Hong Kong-Boston twin city model,” he said. “We are grateful and proud for the Summit to be hosted each year alternately in the two international metropolises and world centres of science, education, and innovation.” 

Exploring Boston and Cambridge 

Before presenting at the Summit, students spent several days together around Boston and Cambridge. 

They started with a Boston Duck Tour, seeing the city from both the streets and the Charles River, then visited the MIT Museum and Harvard University.

At Harvard, Dr. Brendan Kelly, Director of Introductory Math, led students through an activity built around one of the first steps in mathematical modeling: figuring out what questions are worth asking. Starting with a news article, students worked in groups to generate questions, revisit them, and decide which ideas were most important to pursue. The exercise pushed them past the first obvious question and gave them time to see how their thinking changed as they revisited the problem.

Students also attended MAA MathFest, giving them a chance to experience a larger gathering of mathematicians, educators, students, and others interested in mathematics.

The days before the formal Summit also gave them time to get to know one another outside of the competition. That international exchange was intentional. Students arrived with teammates they already knew and were used to working with, then spent the week meeting and collaborating with students from around the world who shared many of the same interests. 

Taking the Stage at Harvard

On Saturday, August 8, the formal IM²C Summit began at the Harvard University Science Center.

COMAP Founding Director Dr. Sol Garfunkel opened the program with a message to students about the opportunities ahead of them and the role mathematical modeling can play in asking better questions, examining the world around them, and working toward better solutions.

Throughout the morning and early afternoon, the attending teams took turns presenting their solutions to Protecting Wildlife at Scale. Each team had 15 minutes to explain its approach, giving students a chance to see how others had tackled the same problem and compare the different assumptions, methods, and models they developed.

The morning also included a keynote from Dr. Gwen Spencer, Staff Machine Learning Scientist, Content DSE at Netflix. In Putting Shape on the Problem and Defining Objectives: My Adventures Applying Mathematics Across Several Industries, Spencer drew on modeling work from several parts of her career, including logistics, fintech, and entertainment. Her examples showed how mathematical ideas can become tools for working through complicated, ambiguous real-world decisions.

From IM²C Students to Entrepreneurs

The afternoon also included IM²C Alumni as Entrepreneurs, presented by Felipe Quintero Ochoa and George Zhan from the AI Youth Global Organization (AIYGO).

AIYGO has its own connection to IM²C. Former mathematical modeling contest participants started the student-led organization, which has grown to more than 600 members interested in artificial intelligence and its applications. 

Their return to the Summit gave current students a chance to hear directly from former participants about what came next for them and the projects and opportunities that grew from their contest experience.

Putting Modeling Into Play

Not all of Saturday's mathematical modeling happened at the front of a lecture hall.

During the afternoon breakout sessions, students took on the Build the Best Game Challenge, led by Dr. Ben Galluzzo, Executive Director of COMAP, one of the organizations that founded IM²C. 

This time, students weren't working with the classmates they had traveled with. Galluzzo intentionally mixed the groups so students from different teams and different parts of the world had to work together. With rubber ducks, hula hoops, and limited time, each new group had to design a game, decide how it would work, test it, and make adjustments along the way.

The time limit mattered. Teams that settled on easy-to-understand gameplay could start testing quickly, especially when it came to scoring. More complicated ideas were harder to test thoroughly before time ran out.

Ben Galluzzo said that kind of collaboration is an important part of what the Summit is designed to create. “The Summit gives students from around the world who share an interest in mathematical modeling the chance to meet others like them, learn how folks with different backgrounds think, and work together on new problems,” he explained. “How you navigate, negotiate, and collaborate with other people is a skill that’s going to matter throughout your life.”

While students designed their games, advisors followed their own concurrent track. Dana Cartier of COMAP and Karen Bryant of St. Mark's School led Model Behavior: Building the Mindset of a Mathematical Modeler, followed by Teaching Modeling: How Would These Problems Fit in Your Class? The teacher program ended with Assessing Modeling: Judge Student “Best Game” Submissions, putting advisors in charge of trying and ranking the games students created.

Team 5’s Duck Darts was selected as the favorite. Inspired by curling, the two-player or team-based game had players take turns sending one rubber duck at a time toward a target. The closer a duck landed to the center, the more points it earned. Players could also knock an opponent’s duck off the target or move it out of scoring position, adding another layer of strategy to the game.

Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and What Comes Next

The second student breakout looked further ahead.

Hong Yi (HY, Qixin), founder of NewGen Venture Partners and Ping'an Chen Herbal Pharma, led Introspective Math Modeling as the Driver of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He was joined by Joe Xiongwei Zhou, founder of the Boston Angel Club investment fund and mentor for the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, and Alfred Zhang, who shared additional perspectives and advice for future entrepreneurs.

Celebrating the 2026 IM²C Teams

The formal Summit concluded with an awards ceremony before participants and invited guests gathered later that evening for a gala dinner at Harvard's Loeb House. 

The two teams receiving the Outstanding Award, the highest recognition in the 2026 IM²C, were Collingwood School in Canada and Shanghai High School International Division in Mainland China.

For the complete list of Outstanding and Meritorious teams, visit the 2026 IM²C results.

The gala featured mathematician, educator, and social entrepreneur Dr. Po-Shen Loh, a professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University and former national coach of the USA International Mathematical Olympiad team. In What's Next? Innovation, AI, and the Future You'll Build, Loh spoke about how AI is changing education, careers, and innovation, and why qualities including curiosity, creativity, resilience, and communication will matter even more as technology continues to change.

The evening closed with remarks from Ben Galluzzo and Alfred Zhang.

 For Zhang, the Summit reflects a much larger goal for IM²C. “From the very beginning, the purpose of IM²C is educational and innovative. In a future transformed by AI and digital technology, a mathematical modeling mindset distinguishes human beings from intelligent machines with qualities such as questioning driven by curiosity and critical thinking with independent judgment,” he said. “As part of the international movement of educational innovation through mathematical modeling teaching and learning, IM²C will continue its efforts to play a contributive and leading role in the educational change.”

Galluzzo brought that larger vision back to the students and the connections they made during the week. “One of the things the Summit can do is put students in the room with people from around the world who think about problems differently than they do,” he said. “Those conversations and collaborations may be where the really interesting ideas of the future begin.”

More From the 2026 IM²C Summit

We'll be sharing more student interviews, presentations, and moments from the 2026 IM²C International Summit in the weeks ahead. 

For students in the United States, one path to the international IM²C is through COMAP's HiMCM competition. Students in other participating countries and regions can take part through their local IM²C programs.

Learn more about the International Mathematical Modeling Challenge and watch for information about the 2027 challenge, taking place from February 1, 2027, through April 26, 2027.