Eric Marland is Professor of Mathematics at Appalachian State University. He completed his PhD at the University of Utah where his dissertation involved modeling the dynamics of muscle contraction. He pursued post-doctoral studies at the Institute for Theoretical Dynamics at the University of California at Davis, studying models of cellular motility. His more recent research has covered many areas of mathematical modeling but has primary focused on forest dynamics and climate policy. He helped found the MAA's (Mathematical Association of America) special interest group SIGMAA) on Theoretical and Computational Biology and has led the SIGMAA on Environmental Mathematics. He has also run numerous professional development workshops on mathematical modeling, computational biology, humanistic mathematics, and communicating science. He has worked on various projects funded by the USFS, NSF, and NASA. Amanda Beecher is Professor of Mathematics at Ramapo College of New Jersey. She completed her PhD at the State University of New York at Albany where her dissertation was in the field of commutative algebra. She has provided professional development workshops for K-12 educators in mathematical modeling and data science. She is the founding department head for the Data Science program at Ramapo College. For many years, Amanda has been both a triage judge and a final judge for COMAP's MCM and ICM contests in mathematical modeling. She has co-authored many of the contest problems and was Director of the COMAP ICM contest for 4 years. Kayla Blyman is Associate Professor of Mathematics at Saint Martin's University. She completed her PhD at the University of Kentucky where her dissertation was in the field of STEM Education. She currently serves as Department Chair for the Mathematics Department at Saint Martin's. For many years, Kayla has been both a triage judge and a final judge for COMAP's contest in mathematical modeling (MCM, ICM, HiMCM, and MidMCM). She currently serves as Director of both COMAP's ICM and MidMCM contests in mathematical modeling. She is on the editorial board for the UMAP journal as the Teaching Modeling Department Editor. Dr. Jessica Libertini is Director of the Mathematical Sciences Center at the United States Military Academy, where she also serves as an associate professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences. Her career spans government, academia, and industry. She previously served as senior advisor for international science and engineering at the National Science Foundation; director of applied research and interdisciplinary professor of science and technology and innovative futures at the Joint Special Operations University, U.S. Special Operations Command; AAAS science and technology policy fellow in the Office of International Cooperation in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and senior engineer at General Dynamics.
