ZAGREB, 5 Sept, 2021 - The 15th Middle European Mathematical Olympiad (MEMO) took place in Zagreb on 23-29 August, and Croatian secondary school students won two silver and three bronze medals in the individual competition and ranked third in the team competition.

Ten countries of Central Europe participated in the competition: Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Lithuania, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland, while the team from Bosnia and Herzegovina was the eleventh team and Zagreb's guest and participated online, like representatives of Germany and Lithuania.

The competition was organised by the Croatian Mathematical Society and took place at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, which helped organise the event.

A total of 66 students competed, and six gold, 11 silver and 18 bronze medals were awarded at MEMO.

The Croatian team consisted of Namik Agić, Janko Bušelić, Petar Sruk and Patrik Pavić from Zagreb's 15th secondary school, Stella Čolo from Zadar's Franje Petrić secondary school and Emanuel Tukač from Varaždin's 1st secondary school, and Ilko Brnetić and Ivan Novak were team leaders.

Patrik Pavić and Stella Čolo won a silver medal in the individual competition, while Namik Agić, Janko Bušelić and Emanuel Tukač took a bronze medal.

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May 20, 2021 - Earlier in May, the Croatian Mathematical Society (HMD) elected a new president, Dr. Vesna Županović.

As Vedran Pavlić wrote for TCN back in 2016, Croatian students were then better in math than in 2011. Fantastic results were also accomplished in 2018 when Croatian students scored medals at the mathematical olympiad. Good results didn't go amiss in 2020, and initiatives for promoting science (such as the one of the Local History Museum in the central town of Ogulin that introduced kindergarten kids with quantum physics), appear all over the country.

Scientists do have their own professional associations, representing them and with more engaging, less engaging, with bigger, or smaller success, work on the promotion of their respective fields. Mathematicians are no exception, and it's worth noting that the Croatian Mathematical Society (HMD) recently has a new president, Dr. Vesna Županović. Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER) at the University of Zagreb reported on its website, an online assembly of HMD voted that Županović be the new president on May 14, replacing dr. Hrvoje Kraljević was the president for the past 14 years.

Vesna Županović, screenshot / Treći element

Apart from her new function, Županović is the professor at FER's department for applied mathematics.

Being the faculty that expects excellent mathematical knowledge, FER is quite happy with this decision of HMD, and they also explained the importance of the aforementioned society.

„HMD goal is to enhance and promote mathematical sciences, math education on all levels, math applying in other fields, as well as enhancing the social status of mathematicians in general“, said FER on their website while congratulating. Županović on being elected.

They added that HMD has five departments: education, scientific, engineering, professional, and student department, along with a youth section that gathers pupils on lower levels of the education system. Publishing scientific and professional magazines and books on math is in the domain of the organization too.

Before being president, Dr. Županović was the Head of the Engineering department on HMD. Born in Split in 1965, she graduated from Mathematical Gymnasium in Split and went on to Zagreb to study math at the Faculty of Science (PMF), University of Zagreb. Her competence in math includes Nonlinear equations, Bifurcation, Fractals, Limit-cycles, Nonlinear dynamical systems, and Spirals.

Croatian Mathematical Society stated on its website that they are organizing conferences, math competitions, participation in math Olympics and other international contests, summer schools, and more.

In 1994, HMD also started a Mathematical Foundation For Science with a goal to award young scientists for their contribution. The receiver of the award can't be more than 35 years old, and concluding with 2015; five awards have been given in total since the first award in 1996.

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