UM Takes Second In Global Programming Contest
The University of Michigan took second place in the International Collegiate Programming Contest held earlier this week.
UM was the only United States school to place in the top 12. UM's performance was a big improvement from last year's 14th-place finish.
Students from China's Zhejiang University won first place in the contest, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery and IBM.
The competition, also known as the "Battle of the Brains," challenged 105 university teams to solve some of the most challenging computer programming problems in just five hours.
Hosted at the Peabody Hotel and Conference Center in Orlando, Fla., the event challenged students to use the latest technology and advanced computing methods, including a number of high profile technologies from IBM, such as analytics and cloud computing.
"As IBM continues to explore technologies such as large-scale analytics and cloud infrastructure, we recognize the need for supreme talent and skill," said Michael Karasick, vice president of architecture and technology at IBM Software Group. "Although many of these students will become software experts and technology leaders in the future, we want to help them understand business issues and real world problems that they are going to face when their generation will take over the responsibilities."
In addition to the contest, participants interacted with IBM executives, fellow students and technologies from around the globe, providing an enriching, diverse first-hand experience.
"The ICPC is not just an international computer contest; it's a meeting place for some of the smartest brains in the world to come together and harness their talents in an effort to make life better for people everywhere," said Bill Poucher, ICPC Executive Director and Baylor University Professor. "The students taking part in the World Finals have the educational and professional opportunities of a lifetime, and I know that they will come home from Florida with many valuable lessons for the future."
The 2012 World Finals, sponsored by IBM, will take place in Warsaw, Poland. The University of Warsaw will host the contest.
For more information about the ACM ICPC, including downloadable photographs, and the complete World Finals roster and final standings, visit http://acmicpc.org. A podcast series "Battle of the Brains" is at http://battleofthebrains.podbean.com. RSS feeds are available. For IBM's insights, visit www.ibm.com/university/acmcontest/. Follow the contest on Twitter at http://twitter.com/brainbattleicpc.
