Team

To apply to become a volunteer, email us at mathscienceclub.mn@gmail.com or message Michael on Discord at knowingant.

See also our past staff.

Student volunteers

Michael Luo – President

Michael is a senior at Minnetonka High School. He attended MOP in 2025 and RSI in 2026. He qualified for the 2025–26 TST cycle and won a gold medal at AMM 2026. He won a bronze medal in USAPhO 2025 and qualified for USNCO Nationals.

He enjoys writing, 斗地主, poker, riichi mahjong, and 升級. Michael enjoys telling dumb jokes and is very patriotic for his state. His favorite riichi mahjong yaku is ryuuiisou, and his favorite Taylor Swift album is Speak Now.

Sophie Cui – Vice President

Sophie is a junior at Wayzata High School. Her favorite subject (and sci bowl main) is chemistry. She attained Honors on USNCO in 2026. She placed in the Top 16 with the Wayzata High School team at NSB in 2026. She is also the first person in the club’s history to have their luggage stolen at NSB.

In her free time, Sophie enjoys listening to music, gaming, archery, and collecting Pokémon cards. Her favorite Taylor Swift album is 1989.

Alex Du – Vice President

Alex Du is a senior at the Blake School. He is the captain of the Blake math team and is a math tutor. He was a part of the UMTYMP program. He also enjoys chemistry and biology.

Outside of math, Alex is a competitive swimmer for Aquajets and swims on his school’s varsity team, public forum debater, DECA and WIC. His favorite Taylor Swift album is Red.

Yan-Ru Cao – Science Director

Yan-Ru Cao is a high school junior with a passion for all things STEM, especially math and chemistry. He enjoys participating in various academic competitions, including math, science, linguistics, and quizbowl. His achievements include placing 5th individually and 1st as a team in State MathCounts; winning the State Science Bowl Championship in 10th grade and placing top 16 nationally, getting silver medal for NACLO Invitational, and being top 20 for USNCO. Outside of academics, Yan-Ru loves studying and riding trains, reading comics, playing tennis, tending to his vegetable garden, cooking, and traveling. His favorite Taylor Swift album is Reputation.

Jeff Zhou – Math Director

Jeff is a junior at Wayzata High School. He attended MOP in 2026. He got 6th at HMMT 2026, and 1st in geometry at CMIMC 2026. He won a silver medal at AMM 2026.

In his free time, he enjoys playing dailies, problem writing, and being bad at chess. He is an on-and-off PvZ fan. His favorite diagram software is Asymptote and his favorite instrumental piece is Graze the Roof.

Eric Luo

Eric Luo is a sophomore at Minnetonka High School. Like Evan, he first became interested in math and science competitions when he joined the Minnetonka Middle School East Math and Science Club. Eric enjoys math, mainly algebra and number theory. He has made MATHCOUNTS State, received a 24 on the AMC 8, and made top 8 in Science Bowl Nationals. Outside of STEM, Eric enjoys playing Minecraft, chess, and playing tennis.

Alex Ren

Alex Ren is a junior at Minnetonka High School. He has been participating in stem-related activities since 7th grade, when he joined the MME Math & Science Club. Following two consecutive national qualifications and good performances in science bowl, he came to love stem. Since then, he’s been on a mission to spread the word and promote interest in stem activities.

Alex likes earth science.

Outside of science, he enjoys debate, philosophy, playing the clarinet, and taking walks. Specifically, there is a very peaceful wetland near his home with a trail circling its perimeter, a view that would be magnificent if not for the unimpeded sightline of a local high school. Alex also began dabbling in nature photography following a family trip to Iceland. His favorite musical artist is Dominic Fike, and his favorite song is 4x4 by Dominic Fike.

Addison Shi

Addison Shi is a junior from Minnetonka high school interested in math and physics. She has participated in science bowl, science olympiad, and math team. Outside of science, Addison also likes reading, sleeping, and watching TV.

Evan Truong

Evan Truong is a junior at Minnetonka High School. He first became interested in math and science competitions in 7th grade, when he joined the Minnetonka Middle School East Math & Science Club; founded by Michael Luo. Evan placed 2nd in the 2024 regional Mathcounts competition and 6th place at the 2024 Minnesota Mathcounts State Competition. Evan also represented Minnesota at the 2024 National ARML competition.

Evan is excited to share his love for math and science with others! In 7th grade, his team became the Minnesota Science Bowl state champion and placed 4th at the National Science Bowl competition. The next year, he took over as co-captain of the Minnetonka Middle School East Math & Science Club and helped lead his team to another state championship and top 8 finish at the National finals. In the same year, his team earned 1st place in Minnesota in Mathcounts with 3 of the top 6 Mathcounts contestants being from the Minnetonka Middle School East Math & Science Club.

In his free time, Evan enjoys playing the best instrument (viola), debating, and sleeping, with a little bit of tennis and snowboarding to get his heart rate up. He is honored to be a part of the Math and Science Club team, and his favorite Taylor Swift album is 1989.

Andreas Walexon

Andreas is a junior at Minnetonka High School who has competed in various math competitions such as MATHCOUNTS, AMC, AIME, SMT, and ARML. He has also participated in middle and high school Science Bowl and specializes in physics and chemistry. Outside of math and science, he also enjoys playing the flute.

Advisors

Mingyi Hong

Dr. Hong received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, in 2011. He is an Associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and he holds adjunct positions in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. His research is focused on developing mathematical optimization theory and algorithms, and applying optimization principles for applications in signal processing, machine learning, and most recently, large language models.

Dr. Hong’s work has received two IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) Best Paper Awards (2021, 2022), an International Consortium of Chinese Mathematicians Best Paper Award (2020), an IBM Pat Goldberg Memorial Award (honorable mention), and a few Best (student) Paper Awards in signal processing and machine learning conferences. He is an Amazon Scholar, and he is the recipient of an IBM Faculty Award, a Meta Research Award, and a Cisco Research Award. His is the recipient of the 2022 Pierre-Simon Laplace Early Career Technical Achievement Award from IEEE SPS.

In the Math + Science club, Dr. Hong has been involved in offering seminars and lectures on topics such as machine learning and algorithm design.

Jie Luo

Dr. Luo holds a PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and is an accomplished engineer at Cummins Power Generator.

Dr. Luo has extensive experience guiding students to success, having coached the Minnetonka Middle School East Science Bowl team to win the State Champion in 2023 and 2025, and led the MATHCOUNTS team to win the State Champion in 2023 in its first year. As a First LEGO League coach, his team qualified for the State level and earned the prestigious Project Award twice.

His hands-on approach and dedication to the STEM education have equipped him with effective strategies to engage students and foster their passion for learning.

In the Math + Science club, Dr. Luo has been involved in offering seminars and lectures on topics on math, physics, engineering, and general science.

Dr. Pavlo Pylyavskyy

Dr. Pylyavskyy, born in Ukraine, discovered his passion for mathematics early in life. He represented Ukraine at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) four times, earning bronze, silver, and two gold medals. These achievements paved the way for his admission to MIT, where he completed both his undergraduate studies and Ph.D. program. Currently, Dr. Pylyavskyy is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on algebraic combinatorics, though he still enjoys exploring math olympiad problems whenever time allows. Among his accolades are the prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship and an NSF CAREER grant. In his free time, Dr. Pylyavskyy enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, listening to audiobooks, and taking long walks in nature.