Ever wonder how top private universities set those tuition rates when they have to compete with publicly subsidized state schools?
Adam Davidovich did. As a Ridgefield High School student, it seemed pretty relevant.
“While researching the mathematics by which national brand companies set their prices, I wondered if such tactics could be applicable to other scenarios. As a senior applying to colleges, the controversy that surrounds university pricing was also on my mind,” he wrote in the abstract for a research project that competed at the Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair.
“I combined these topics,” he wrote, “and attempted to answer the question: ‘At what price should tuition of large prestigious universities be set to maximize profit in the presence of state universities?’
“I am performing this research to provide a theoretical means by which any university may maximize their profit,” he continued. “To do so, I used the Calculus III method of optimization called the Lagrange multiplier technique. This technique states that the gradient vector of the function you are trying to maximize/minimize is equal to the sum of the gradient vectors of the constraint equations each multiplied by a distinct Lagrange multiplier constant.”
Got that?
Adam’s project, Maximization of the Profit of a Large, Prestigious University in the Presence of a State University, was one of three by students from Ridgefield High School’s four-year-old Science Research Program that were presented at the Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair at Quinnipiac University in Hamden from March 10 to 14.
The other two students participating were Randy Deng and Lily Meyers. Both Randy and Lily had their projects recognized in the Southern Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair in Newtown (and written up an article in the Feb. 12 Ridgefield Press).
Lily’s project, Gender Specific Copepod Susceptibility to Phytoplankton Neurotoxins at Various Concentrations, studied tiny aquatic micro-organisms, copepods, and found the males and females had differing reactions to being fed neurotoxic algae. Lily’s work won a first place in the environmental science category at the fair in Newtown.
Randy’s project, The Effect of Different Checkerboard Sizes on Steady State Visually Evoked Potentials, investigated brain-computer interfaces. It took a third place for Physical Science Completed Project at the Newtown fair.
Close to 700 students from 126 high schools and middle schools around the state attended the Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair in Hamden, and 150 finalists competed for $170,000 in prizes.