About AASU | Future Students | Current Students | Academics | Faculty & Staff | Alumni & Community | Calendar & Events | AASU Home




News Main Page


Computer Science Team Shows Mettle In Regional Competition


(Savannah, GA-November 27) An Armstrong Atlantic State University computer science team placed 10th in the regional finals of the 31st Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest held at Georgia Southern University on October 28.

Billed as "The Battle of the Brains," the IBM-sponsored ACM culminates at the world finals set for March 12-16, 2007, in Tokyo, Japan.

Sixty-five teams hailing from Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina competed in the Southeast USA regional finals. Teams of up to three students were challenged to use their programming skills and mental endurance to solve 10 complex problems under a grueling five-hour deadline.

"Placing in the top 10 is a great result achieved by very few universities," said Paulius Micikevicius, AASU assistant professor of computer science and team coach. "Only 12 different universities have placed a team in the top 10 in the past six years."

Of those, only three don't have a Ph.D. program in computer science.

One team, from the University of Central Florida, advanced to the world finals. Mercer University, which placed second, may be allowed to advance to the finals depending on the final rankings from all regions.

AASU's top team solved five problems, a feat achieved by only 16 out of the 65 teams. AASU beat four out of five teams from a regional powerhouse, University of Central Florida and one team from another regional giant, Georgia Institute of Technology. Members of the AASU team were students Nathan Burns, Bryan Traywick, and Ty Wangsness.

"It was an excellent achievement at that level of competition," said Micikevicius.

The university fielded a second team that placed 41st in the competition.

Copyright © 2008 Armstrong Atlantic State University, a University System of Georgia Institution
11935 Abercorn Street, Savannah, Georgia 31419    912.927.5277    800.633.2349
Text only version of this web site