This project was developed as an interdisciplinary application of the optimization of a single-variable function. It was used in a freshman-level single-variable calculus course. After the first month of the course, students had been exposed to the concepts of the derivative as a rate of change, average and instantaneous velocities, derivatives of exponential functions, the chain rule, and single-variable optimization problems. They had also begun to use a computer algebra system to explore functions graphically, estimate local extrema, and differentiate functions. Prior to taking this course, all students had completed a course in mathematical modeling with an introduction to differential calculus. (Contains 2 figures.)