Tyler Uhlenkamp (Junior, SE), Mingwei Lin (Senior, CS) and Minsuk Kang (Senior, CS) took home the first prize honors at the Regional ACM ICPC competition November 9 at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The team placed first among all teams in the Midwest US division (over 200 participating teams), earning them a spot at the World Finals in Ekaterinburg, Russia in spring 2014.
Second place at the regional competition was the team of Donald Nye (Senior, CS), Michael Ore (Senior, ECpE) and Kyle Tietz (Senior, ECpE).
Out of all 29 teams at the regional event in Lincoln, 5 teams from ISU were in the top 10, including 2 teams with members who are freshmen in the CS and SE programs. "That our freshmen are placing in the top 10 in this competition says a lot about our program and the skills and concepts our students are learning from day one," says Gloria Cain, CS and SE undergraduate advisor. "Dr. Mitra, the student's faculty advisor, deserves a lot of praise for all the work he did to prepare these students for the competition. He really got the students pumped up," says Cain. Dr. Mitra spent several weekend days prepping students, but gives all of the credit to them. "What really impressed me is that these students spent their Sundays preparing for this. They all came to practice sessions. That demonstration of sincerity and effort is the most valuable thing about this, more than winning or placing in the top 10. For that reason, our students are the best," says Mitra.
In addition to our appreciation for Gloria Cain and Simanta Mitra, thanks also go to Anindya Das, graduate student in the CS program, for helping students prepare for the competition, Miles Aronnax, SSG staff member, for setting up and judging practice competitions, Abigail Andrews, CS office staff member, for her consistent support, Johnny Wong, CS Department Chair for his enthusiastic support and encouragement, and to Tradebot, the company sponsor for the ISU students' trip to Lincoln.