Georgia Tech Team Awaits Their Seat At The World Finals

The Georgia Tech Student Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (gtACM) won 2nd place at the Southeastern Regional of the 2003 ACM programming competition held in Daytona Beach, Fla. Now, the students start practicing for the March finals and look forward to representing Georgia Tech and Atlanta in the international competition.

Georgia Tech sent four teams, each with three students, to the Southeastern Regional. Out of the 88 teams from 39 universities at the competition, Georgia Tech teams placed second, seventh, 13th, and 22nd. Trayton Otto, Topraj Gurung, and Ryan Wilson made up the top team. Tech was also represented by nine other student participants: Christopher Oezbek, Ankur Kalra, Tyler Weston, Ram Gandhapuneni, Hitesh Kanwathirtha, Michael Sulak, Frank Rietta, Hussain Ali, and Nick Clift.

The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM-ICPC), established in 1970, is the most prestigious programming competition for the world's universities and colleges. The contest fosters creativity, teamwork and innovation in building new software programs and demonstrates how students perform under pressure. The contest takes place in two stages, first regional competitions and then a worldwide final competition with the winners from each regional.

Two months prior to the competition, students dedicated their Sunday afternoons to seven-hour practices with coach David Van Brackle. TheGeorgia Tech team traveled to Daytona with three College of Computing staff members: Dan Colestock, GTACM chapter sponsor; Maureen Biggers, assistant dean, and Monica Sweat, lecturer.

Thousands of teams compete world-wide in regional contests held from September to December 2003, but only seventy-two teams advance to the World Finals in Prague, Czech Republic on March 28-April 1, 2004. Awards, prizes, scholarships and bragging rights will be at stake for some of the world's finest computing students at the Obecni Dum (Municipal House) of the Czech Republic, courtesy of Mayor Bem and hosts at The Czech Technical University Prague and Charles University.

While the Yellow Jackets' seat at the World Finals is not yet certain, traditionally, the top two teams from the southeast region advance to the March competition.

About gtACM

Founded in 1947, ACM (the Association for Computing Machinery) is an international scientific and educational organization dedicated toadvancing the arts, sciences, and applications of computer science and information technology. ACM is the professional society for computing professionals. GTACM is the primary student organization for Georgia Tech computer science majors. Activities include organized corporate and faculty presentations and other events, which benefit both undergraduate and graduate students. GTACM also provides an avenue for students to develop corporate leadership skills.