Ding Multiplies Math Opportunities
For Albert Ding ’26, involvement means more than joining activities. It means creating opportunities so others can participate, connect, and grow.
That mindset led Ding to establish the Tennessee Math Coalition, a student-run nonprofit organization designed to unite students across the state through mathematics competition. Alongside Kevin Li of Montgomery Bell Academy, Ding saw a lack of statewide collaboration in Tennessee and decided to do something about it.
“We wanted to provide students here the chance to compete in national competitions, and the best way to make it happen was by connecting people across Tennessee and fostering an environment where this would be possible,” Ding said.
What started as an idea quickly became a major undertaking. Ding and fellow organizers built a leadership structure, organized teams for national contests, created a website, and hosted the inaugural Tennessee Math Tournament in Nashville in April 2025. More than 60 students attended in person, while over 100 participated virtually through a custom-built online platform coded in TypeScript. A second state tournament was held on the Vanderbilt campus in April 2026. He helped organize every aspect of the events including writing problems for the competitions.
For Ding the coalition’s greatest success has been the sense of community it created among students who share similar interests.
“So much of competition math is focused on the individual,” he said. “People often forget that learning and competing can be more than just what one person can do individually. When you have friends who compete alongside you, everything is just a lot better.”
That spirit of involvement extends across many areas of Ding’s life. The national Mu Alpha Theta student delegate president, he has been an integral member of multiple MUS championship-winning Mu Alpha Theta teams. He also helped prepare younger students for competitions. For his excellence he earned the MUS Christa Green Warner Mathematics Award.
At the 2025 Tennessee Math Teachers Association conference in Knoxville, Ding placed among the top competitors in Calculus and Advanced Topics. In addition, he was the event’s only high school student presenter. In “Math Beyond the Classroom: Get Involved,” he encouraged students to pursue mathematics beyond traditional coursework.
Ding’s research paper “Mr. Markov Aviates Aeroplane Chess” was published in the Spring 2026 issue of UMAP: The Journal of Undergraduate Mathematics and its Applications. He applied the powerful tools of Markov chains to the Asian board game Aeroplane Chess, determining details such as the average number of moves for a game piece to finish from any place on the board, the landing frequencies for each place on the board, and the average length of the game with any number of players.
Math Instructor Steve Gadbois highlighted the significance of this achievement: “Not only am I greatly impressed with what Albert has learned and then used this year, I enjoyed watching him successfully convert the game into a form allowing analysis, write up the results, typeset the math with many useful graphics, submit his article to the journal, and interact productively with the journal’s editor. No one should be fooled by this first-ever analysis of a ‘silly’ children’s board game!”
Ding has also explored interests outside mathematics. President of the Tennessee Junior Classical League this year, he was among nine MUS seniors to receive the Laurea Bubonis (“Laurel Wreath of the Owl”), an award that required him to complete a capstone project related to the field of classical studies and augment his work in advanced Latin with the study of Greek. He also was one of 22 Owls to achieve the Tennessee Seal of Biliteracy, recognizing students who meet proficiency standards in more than one language. In addition, he helped lead a DECA team to a sixth-place finish in Independent Business Plan at the Tennessee State Career Development Conference.
Through leadership, initiative, and collaboration, Ding has demonstrated that involvement is not simply about participating in activities. It is about building communities where others can participate alongside you.
The son of Mrs. Yan Yan and Mr. Sheng Ding, he will attend Stanford University in the fall.
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“We wanted to provide students here the chance to compete in national competitions, and the best way to make it happen was by connecting people across Tennessee and fostering an environment where this would be possible,” Ding said.
What started as an idea quickly became a major undertaking. Ding and fellow organizers built a leadership structure, organized teams for national contests, created a website, and hosted the inaugural Tennessee Math Tournament in Nashville in April 2025. More than 60 students attended in person, while over 100 participated virtually through a custom-built online platform coded in TypeScript. A second state tournament was held on the Vanderbilt campus in April 2026. He helped organize every aspect of the events including writing problems for the competitions.
For Ding the coalition’s greatest success has been the sense of community it created among students who share similar interests.
“So much of competition math is focused on the individual,” he said. “People often forget that learning and competing can be more than just what one person can do individually. When you have friends who compete alongside you, everything is just a lot better.”
That spirit of involvement extends across many areas of Ding’s life. The national Mu Alpha Theta student delegate president, he has been an integral member of multiple MUS championship-winning Mu Alpha Theta teams. He also helped prepare younger students for competitions. For his excellence he earned the MUS Christa Green Warner Mathematics Award.
At the 2025 Tennessee Math Teachers Association conference in Knoxville, Ding placed among the top competitors in Calculus and Advanced Topics. In addition, he was the event’s only high school student presenter. In “Math Beyond the Classroom: Get Involved,” he encouraged students to pursue mathematics beyond traditional coursework.
Ding’s research paper “Mr. Markov Aviates Aeroplane Chess” was published in the Spring 2026 issue of UMAP: The Journal of Undergraduate Mathematics and its Applications. He applied the powerful tools of Markov chains to the Asian board game Aeroplane Chess, determining details such as the average number of moves for a game piece to finish from any place on the board, the landing frequencies for each place on the board, and the average length of the game with any number of players.
Math Instructor Steve Gadbois highlighted the significance of this achievement: “Not only am I greatly impressed with what Albert has learned and then used this year, I enjoyed watching him successfully convert the game into a form allowing analysis, write up the results, typeset the math with many useful graphics, submit his article to the journal, and interact productively with the journal’s editor. No one should be fooled by this first-ever analysis of a ‘silly’ children’s board game!”
Ding has also explored interests outside mathematics. President of the Tennessee Junior Classical League this year, he was among nine MUS seniors to receive the Laurea Bubonis (“Laurel Wreath of the Owl”), an award that required him to complete a capstone project related to the field of classical studies and augment his work in advanced Latin with the study of Greek. He also was one of 22 Owls to achieve the Tennessee Seal of Biliteracy, recognizing students who meet proficiency standards in more than one language. In addition, he helped lead a DECA team to a sixth-place finish in Independent Business Plan at the Tennessee State Career Development Conference.
Through leadership, initiative, and collaboration, Ding has demonstrated that involvement is not simply about participating in activities. It is about building communities where others can participate alongside you.
The son of Mrs. Yan Yan and Mr. Sheng Ding, he will attend Stanford University in the fall.
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