[Chronicle]

Nov. 29, 2001
Vol. 21 No. 6

current issue
archive / search
contact

    Flaming Phoenixes place second in ACM contest

    By Steve Koppes
    News Office

    A University student programming team, the Flaming Phoenixes, has placed second at the Association for Computing Machineryís Mid-Central USA regional programming contest. The teamís second-place finish qualified it to compete in the ACM World Finals in Honolulu March 20 to 24.

    “There were 100 teams from 54 universities in at least six states at 12 sites working simultaneously, with the contest coordinated over the Internet,” said team adviser Michael O’Donnell, Professor in Computer Science and the Physical Sciences Collegiate Division. Two Chicago teams competed at Valparaiso University in Indiana.

    The Phoenixes placed second in the region by solving six of seven problems during the five-hour contest. The University of Arkansas-Fayetteville took first place.

    Teams were judged according to how many problems they solved using C, C++, Pascal or Java programs. Problems related to a variety of tasks, such as image processing, text formatting and solving puzzles.

    The Phoenixes consist of Ivona Bezakova, a doctoral student in Computer Science; Sonya Cates, a third-year in Computer Science; and Aquinas Hobor, also a third-year in Computer Science. A second Chicago team, the Gigagargoyles, also competed.