WASHINGTON —Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and U.S. Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4) called on President Obama to invite the 2015 U.S. International Mathematical Olympiad Team – comprised of six high schoolers, including Michael Kural of Riverside, Connecticut – to the White House to celebrate their first place victory against 100 other countries at this year’s 56th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). Murphy, Blumenthal, and Himes noted that, considering the White House’s efforts to promote STEM education and tradition of inviting championship-winning teams to Washington, the U.S. IMO team should be appropriately recognized by the White House for its achievement. 

Murphy, Blumenthal, and Himes wrote, “The entire country should be proud of the way the U.S. IMO team represented our country on an international stage; honoring them at the White House would appropriately recognize them and send a message about the value of academic achievement. While we feel the team deserves to visit the White House based on the merits of their win alone, we believe a visit would amplify the Whites House’s existing efforts to promote STEM education. We also believe that the tradition of bringing championship-winning teams to the White House to celebrate their achievement should include academic teams. Winning a prestigious international competition, whether in athletics or in academics, requires discipline, teamwork, dedication, and competitiveness, and the hard work required to achieve at such a level should be recognized. This team of competitors deserves significant recognition.”

The full text of the letter is below: 

President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC 20500

Dear President Obama

We write to respectfully request that you invite the 2015 U.S. International Mathematical Olympiad Team to the White House, in honor and celebration of their first place victory at the 56th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in July. The team of six high schoolers—Shyam Narayanan, David Stoner, Ryan Alweiss, Yang Liu, Allen Liu, and Michael Kural, a Connecticut constituent of ours—defeated teams from more than 100 countries and defied America’s poor international ranking in mathematics. Led by their coach Dr. Po-Shen Loh, this was the first win for the United States in the competition since 1994, and has drawn comparisons to the U.S. Olympic ice hockey win against the Soviet Union in 1980, often referred to as the “Miracle on Ice.” This team of competitors deserves significant recognition.

The IMO, which began originally in 1959 with seven Warsaw Pact countries, has since expanded to become a truly global event. Several former members of Team USA have gone on to enormous success such as winning major research prizes such as Breakthrough or Nevanlinna or becoming top level executive at leading financial institutions and technology startups. Eric Lander, leader of Human Genome Project and Co-chair of the President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology was a former member of Team USA as well as Noam Elkies, who became, the youngest full professor in Harvard’s history. Through the ongoing work of the Mathematical Association of America, which runs numerous competitions and events to select IMO team members, a new generation of mathematical thinkers and innovators is already being developed.

This year’s two-day competition included problems ranging from pre-calculus to more esoteric branches of mathematics not often covered even at university level.
We believe that the tradition of bringing championship-winning teams to the White House to celebrate their achievement should include academic teams as well. Winning a prestigious international competition, whether in athletics or in academics, requires discipline, teamwork, dedication, and competitiveness, and the hard work required to achieve at such a level should be recognized.

While we feel the team deserves to visit the White House based on the merits of their win alone, we believe a visit would amplify the Whites House’s existing efforts to promote STEM education. The Administration’s laudable focus on STEM education helped raised $700 million in public-private partnership to fund areas of critical need such as training STEM teachers and increasing diversity in STEM fields.

The entire country should be proud of the way these young men represented the United States on an international stage; we believe honoring them at the White House would appropriately recognize them and send a message about the value of academic achievement. Thank you very much for your consideration.


Sincerely,