The English Press Club sat down with Gautam Singhvie, the APOGEE Coordinator for the Mathematics Association, to discuss the events that the Association had planned for APOGEE ’26.
The Coordinator started by explaining that the association had three verticals: data science, research, publicity and sponsorship. Leading up to the fest, the former two verticals worked together to prepare the questions and games for the events, while the publicity and sponsorship team worked to market the events and bring in as large a crowd as possible.
He also broke down the four events that the Mathematics Association would be organising. Gambling Maths, their flagship event, had three rounds and would end with a final poker showdown. Their second event, Probability Labyrinth, would essentially be a game room with six to seven games, which he chose to keep under wraps. Proving the Obvious, another annual event, wherein students could make any assertion, even on something as absurd as the average number of flies in their room, and prove it using mathematics or code. Once selected, they would be given an opportunity to present the paper in front of professors from the Mathematics department. The fourth event that they had in store was Mindwars, an event in collaboration with Indian Game Theory Society (IGTS), the game theory society from DTU.
Elaborating on the preparations for the fest, he stated that the association had been holding weekly meetings to meticulously plan all the events in detail. He also pointed out that they were very aware of the audience that would be attending the fest when deciding on their events, and was confident that people would genuinely enjoy participating in them.
Describing their collaborations, he mentioned that major ones existed with the Department of External Affairs, who advertised their games on their work trips, and with the previously mentioned IGTS, DTU for Mindwars. He said that all of the events of the Mathematics Association were really enticing to him, especially Gambling Maths, because six of the best teams on campus would be participating in the finals, and he expected it to be a really high-stakes showdown.
Next, Gautam described his experience with the CoStAA, stating that it has been smooth so far and that they are genuinely hardworking people who have been helping out. He hoped that the collaboration would continue beyond the fest as well.
The Mathematics Association also takes part in various events as a group, christened ‘Team PI.’ Demonstrating his enthusiasm for the events, he explained that more than half of their time in the meetings went into discussing and strategising for the events that they planned to participate in. He considered that a team-bonding opportunity and highlighted that they had a strong community of over fifty participants that any event will be glad to have. He was especially looking forward to IEEE’s AI Poker, Quantaculus, and any treasure hunt that came up.
Reflecting on the mistakes made in previous editions of APOGEE, he hoped that association members would coordinate better amongst themselves so that no event was understaffed and no member felt exhausted. They had a larger workforce, so he expected that it would be easier to coordinate.
Talking about his experience as the APOGEE coordinator, he said that he was grateful to his predecessors for being so kind and for guiding him. He also thanked them for setting up most of the groundwork that the association has been benefitting from. He added that it has been an overall fun experience.
Gautam was optimistic that this fest would be both more enjoyable and successful than the last, and he was really looking forward to APOGEE. In his parting words, he reiterated the association’s commitment to delivering high-quality events year after year.