The students in the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Boise State Student Chapter have earned the highest distinction of an Outstanding Submission Award in the international mathematical modeling competition SCUDEM 2025. Students Antonio Cariello and Max Hewes, coached by Ph.D. in Computing graduate student Gus Tropea and advised by Michal Kopera in the Department of Mathematics, have created a model of the accumulation and clearance of heavy metals in the human body due to the consumption of chocolate. Their work didn’t stop at presenting general trends – they also provided insights into practical questions, such as whether spreading out candy consumption mitigates health risks compared to binge eating.
SCUDEM is a global competition that pushes students to model complex phenomena using differential or difference equations. Teams have a limited time to develop their models and must present their findings in a 10-minute video for evaluation by a panel of judges. The students’ problem of choice was both timely and impactful: they were tasked with modeling how heavy metals in chocolate could accumulate in the human body depending on consumption patterns.