Akamai Foundation Awards $45,000 in College Scholarships to Country’s Top High School Math Students

The Akamai Foundation today announced that it has awarded three high school math students with scholarships for their placement in the recent U.S.A. Mathematical Olympiad. An awards ceremony for the USAMO winners was held yesterday, June 8, in Washington D.C. at the MAA Headquarters and the U.S. Department of State building.

The Akamai Foundation, established in 2000 by Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) and funded solely through donations from Akamai employees and individuals outside the company, promotes mathematics education in grades K-12 and the pursuit of excellence in mathematics to encourage America’s next generation of technology innovators.

The Akamai Foundation presented Akamai Scholarships to the top three winners of this year’s competition, the most prestigious math competition in the country for high school students. Wenyu Cao of Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, will receive a $20,000 scholarship for first place; Toan Phan of the Taft School, Watertown, Connecticut, will receive $15,000 for second place; and Qinxuan Pan of Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School, Rockville, Maryland, will receive $10,000 for third place. These top three scorers are among the country’s most talented mathematicians. It is from among the USAMO finalists that the United States team, that competes each summer in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), is chosen.

"Math innovation has always been, and continues to be, at the heart of our mission,” said Tom Leighton, chief scientist and co-founder, Akamai. "We congratulate these winners, as well as all of the participants in this year’s competition, on their pursuit of achieving excellence in mathematics. The Akamai Foundation remains committed to helping to promote mathematics education among the next generation of technology innovators, inspiring young people to embrace math.”

The Akamai Foundation is also proud to co-sponsor the MAA-U.S. girls teams invited to compete in the 2009 China Girls Mathematical Olympiad. By supporting the highest scoring students from the USAMO, the Foundation hopes to encourage these and other students to continue their pursuit of mathematics education.

Dr. Tina H. Straley, executive director of the MAA, said, "We are most appreciative of the Akamai Foundation’s willingness to devote significant support to this important event. We are striving to make our country’s success in mathematics, and the public’s interest, rise to the highest levels in the world. This vital support will help us to increase the awareness and success of U.S. math students.”

This year, 525 high school students qualified for the USAMO. On April 28-29, these students tackled a challenging, six-question exam, distributed via the Internet to their schools. The USAMO is the pinnacle event in the sequence of increasingly challenging mathematical contests administered by the MAA's American Mathematics Competitions program. More than 220,000 worldwide took the first contest (AMC 10 and/or AMC 12). More than 10,000 were invited to compete in the second contest (AIME), and just 525 of these participants made it to the highly selective and prestigious USAMO.

About the MAA

The Mathematical Association of America is the largest professional society of college and university mathematics faculty in the world. Today, MAA’s 23,000 members include college and university faculty, two-year college faculty, high school teachers, government and corporate workers, graduate school faculty, research mathematicians, and graduate and undergraduate students.

About the Akamai Foundation

The Akamai Foundation was established in 2000 by Akamai Technologies, Inc. and is funded solely by Akamai executives, its employees and individuals outside the company. The Akamai Foundation is dedicated to excellence in mathematics, with the aim of promoting math’s importance and encouraging America’s next generation of technology innovators.