Computer Science Students Finish Fifth in Nation in World Finals of ‘Battle of the Brains’

From 105 teams chosen from a field of 8,305 teams from 2,070 Universities in 88 countries competing on 6 continents, the California State University Chico ACM team represented by David Stolp, Katherine Gabales, Abhishek Iyer, and accompanied by the ACM Chapter Advisor Prof. Moaty Fayek was ranked #59 amongst the world finest. Ryan Feenstra, the ACM Chapter President and Jennifer Coryell, the reserve team member also accompanied the team to the ICPC World Finals in Orlando, Florida. Just think about it, out of 8,305 teams from all over the world, we were in the 59th position. Where does this put Chico? It puts Chico amongst the top 1% in the world (actually .07%).  Those kids achieved the impossible.

The top team in the world was from Zhejiang University in China. The participating teams were challenged to solve 11 extremely difficult computer-programming problems in only five hours. The students from Zhejiang University, masters of both speed and skill, solved eight problems in the five hours.

Overall, 18 universities from United Stated competed in the ACM World Finals. California State University, Chico was in 5th place right behind University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Carnegie Mellon, University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Princeton University. Chico Was 10 positions ahead of the University of Miami, 20 positions ahead of Duke University, 30 positions ahead of University of California, San Diego, and 35 positions ahead the University of University of Virginia. Chico was ranked ahead of 13 well known US universities. This was indeed a great accomplishment and our students should be recognized for their excellent accomplishment.

News Release: http://www.csuchico.edu/news/current-news/05-31-11-comp-sci-students-finish-5th-in-nation-battle-of-brains.shtml