Ashok Cutkosky, David Henry Hickman High School, Columbia, Missouri
Region 3 Silver Medal Winner

Associated Primes of the Square of the Alexander Dual of Hypergraphs

Ashok Cutkosky is a senior at David Henry Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri. His research discovered new information about the intrinsic structure of hypergraphs; these results have potential applications in problems like sharing of resources. Mr. Cutkosky took an algebraic approach to study hypergraphs and worked to restate geometric properties of multivariable polynomials. His mentor for this project is Dr. Christopher Francisco, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Oklahoma State University.

Mr. Cutkosky is a senior and avid Math lover. He is the Math Team Captain, member of the Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society and has received numerous honors and accolades in the field of Mathematics. Of note, he placed first and second at the Great Plains Math League State Competition and received a silver medal at the USA Mathematical Talent Search in 2007. Mr. Cutkosky's grandfather is a retired physicist and his parents are professors in Mathematics, which has encouraged his interest in this subject and other sciences.