2008 Issue

UTAH ENGINEERS COUNCIL JOURNAL 43 continued on page 51 MATHCOUNTS is a national middle- school (6th, 7th, and 8th grades) math competition managed at the state level by the state chapters of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). NSPE is one of the three founding sponsors of MATHCOUNTS. C ELEBRATING ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY, MATHCOUNTS IS SPON- SORED NATIONALLY BY LOCKHEED MARTIN, RAYTHEON COM- PANY, NORTHROP GRUMMAN, TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, CONO- COPHILLIPS, 3M, GENERALMOTORS, ANDNASA. THE SPONSORS of UtahMATHCOUNTS are Chevron, Utah State University, Utah Division of Water Resources, Northrop Grumman, Salt Lake Com- munity College, 3M, and USPE. MATH COUNTS By Marisa Egbert The mission of MATHCOUNTS is to increase enthusiasm for and enhance achievement in middle school mathematics throughout the United States. MATHCOUNTS alumni surveys indicate that the top three fields of study for Mathletes (MATHCOUNTS participants) are mathematics, computer science, and engineering. Over 80% of the alumni also indicate SAT scores of 1400 or more. The MATHCOUNTS curriculum is provided to thousands of schools throughout the U.S. free of charge. Schools select students to compete individually or as part of a team in one of the six chapter competitions held throughout Utah in February. The top students from the chapter competitions advance to the Utah state competition in March. The top four students from the state competition then compete at the national competition, representing Utah against 56 other states and territories. The top four students from Utah’s state competition also receive a $3,000 cash scholarship from the College of Engineering at Utah