More than 150 middle school students from the Riverside and San Bernardino area gathered at California Baptist University's campus to compete in MATHCOUNTS, a national competitive mathematics program, on Feb. 13.

MATHCOUNTS is an organization dedicated to promoting engineering and mathematics at the middle school level.

The Gordon and Jill Bourns College of Engineering has hosted the competition since 2009. About 40 engineering students assisted in the event with registration, proctoring, grading and demonstrating some of their course work, such as a 3D printer.

"Intelligence takes on lots of different forms. Mathematics in one of them," said Dr. Anthony Donaldson, dean of the College of Engineering.

Donaldson praised the Riverside area for promoting math and innovation among students.

"You're in a happening place," he said, to students. "This is a place where things converge and innovation can occur and young minds can be inspired."

Top finishers at the CBU event in the individual and team categories will move on to compete at the state competition. Additionally, CBU's College of Engineering awards $10,000 scholarships ($2,500 per year) to top performers if they enroll in the CBU engineering program as a full-time student in the future.