{"id":40617,"date":"2018-12-04T14:17:12","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T19:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=40617"},"modified":"2019-08-06T06:31:32","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T10:31:32","slug":"emu-teams-place-18th-and-48th-regionally-in-international-programming-contest-and-thats-really-really-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emu-teams-place-18th-and-48th-regionally-in-international-programming-contest-and-thats-really-really-good\/","title":{"rendered":"EMU teams place 18th and 48th regionally in international programming contest \u2013 and that’s really, really good"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Eastern Mennonite University team in the Mid-Atlantic region competition of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) placed 18th out of 184, besting the top teams from the likes of the University of Richmond, UNC-Charlotte, George Washington University, Dickinson College, Virginia Commonwealth University, Villanova University, Georgetown University, and Wake Forest University.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cameron Byer (left), Daniel Harder and Ben Stutzman placed 18th out of 184, besting the top teams from the likes of the University of Richmond, UNC-Charlotte and George Washington University.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A second of the three EMU teams placed 48th in the Nov. 10 computer science competition, high enough to outscore the top teams from local (and friendly) rivals Bridgewater College (49th) and James Madison University (52nd).<\/span><\/p>\n

First place in the five-hour contest went to Duke University, followed by Drexel University and Swarthmore College. Last place \u2013 89th \u2013 was shared by the 96 of the 184 competing teams who solved none of the eight problems. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the premier computer science contest for undergraduates, a highly competitive international contest,\u201d said Professor <\/span>Daniel Showalter<\/a><\/strong>. \u201cThe competitor list includes most of the elite schools in the country, and many of these schools have large teams that train year-round for the competition with coaches who devote most of their energy to the training, whereas EMU had just a two-credit problem-solving course this semester for the first time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Austin Engle (left), Brandon Chupp and Andrew Reimer-Berg placed 48th, ahead of Bridgewater College and James Madison University.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This was only the third time that a team \u2013 and the first time that multiple teams \u2013 from EMU entered the competition. The problem-solving course, which allows students to approach the topic from a math perspective, taught by Professor <\/span>Owen Byer<\/a><\/strong>, or a computer science perspective, taught by Showalter, requires participation in a major competition and, as Showalter said, the ICPC \u2013 a \u201cmental marathon\u201d \u2013 was \u201cthe obvious choice.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

EMU\u2019s top-scoring team included sophomore Cameron Byer<\/strong> and juniors Ben Stutzman<\/strong> and Daniel Harder<\/strong>, a power trio that <\/span>won the international Kryptos cryptanalysis competition last spring<\/span><\/a>. The second-place team for EMU included seniors Austin Engle<\/strong>, Brandon Chupp<\/strong> and Andrew Reimer-Berg<\/strong>, and a third team included juniors Dan Hackman<\/strong>, Darren Good<\/strong> and Jamie Stoltzfus<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dan Hackman (left), Darren Good and Jamie Stoltzfus made up a third team from EMU in the Nov. 10 competition. Over half of the competing teams shared 89th place.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The EMU teams competed at the 500-computer Math Emporium at Virginia Tech, one of the Mid-Atlantic competition\u2019s eight sites. (EMU\u2019s top team outscored every team at three of the eight sites: Christopher Newport, Shippensburg, and Wilkes.) <\/span><\/p>\n

Each team clustered around a single computer to solve as many of the eight problems as possible using not only familiarity with popular algorithms but also insight and creativity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe problems are chosen to be very challenging and push students to the edges of their problem-solving capacities,\u201d Showalter said. For example, one problem dealt with two bicycle courier services that wanted to increase their collective customer base. The students had to write a program that would take the customer locations and determine how to split them among two companies to minimize the guaranteed delivery time.<\/span><\/p>\n