In these sample papers from the 2019 M3 Challenge, students were asked to develop a robust metric for the impact of substance use. Each paper has a cover sheet that indicates what judges liked about the paper and what could have been improved.
“Our first model predicts that by the year 2029, 45.79 million people will be vaping in America. It follows a similar pattern to the beginning stages of cigarette usage. Through an analysis of data and societal implications, it is evident that vaping is following a similar path to smoking and should be treated as such.”
“While nicotine was once believed to have fallen out of favor among the newest generations of Americans, it has seen its resurgence among adolescents and young adults in the form of e-cigarettes, as a product once intended to serve as a less deadly form of smoking has been marketed to hook a new generation of users. Given this new trend, the first part of this paper’s body sought to analyze the use of nicotine through vaping, project its growth over the next 10 years, and compare its growth to that of cigarettes.”
“Due to the rising epidemic of electronic cigarettes, more and more teens have been introduced to a lifestyle of addiction and found gateway into more harmful drugs. The populations affected by this spread of substance abuse are increasing in size; friends, family, and partners of those addicted are affected in significant ways as well. In this paper, we created various mathematical models to evaluate the spread and effects of substance abuse in the United States.”
