UA COMPUTER PROGRAMMING TEAM RANKS IN THE WORLD'S TOP 20

EINDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS — Sixty-two teams battled Sunday for the title of World's Greatest Programmers. Three programmers from the University of Arkansas came in 6th place out of the 24 U.S. teams making it to the finals, tying Cornell University and Virginia Tech, and coming in 18th place overall.

The University of Waterloo won the competition by solving six problems. The U of A solved four.

Jim Gage, graduate student, and Muhammad Arrabi and Stephen Smith, undergraduates, made up the UA team. All three students are in the Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering.Gage competed last year, but this was the first time for the other two students.

"It wasn't just about competing against the best student programmers in the world. It was about challenging ourselves to do our best," said Arrabi after the competition.

"This was a quest for me that started in 1996 and led up to this moment. This was my last competition, but I hope the legacy continues," said Gage.

The trip to the 23rd Annual Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest began last November. To qualify for the world finals, 1,467 teams from 59 countries competed in 40 regional contests. Of that group, 62 teams from 21 countries made the cut.

This marks the second year in a row for the UA team to qualify for the world contest. Last year the team received honorable mention.

"The competition has taught us the triumph of teamwork over individual achievement," Arrabi said

"I was intimidated at the beginning, but the competition started and I just set those feelings aside," said Smith.

Coaching the team was Doug Blank, assistant professor of computer science and computer engineering. "I am very proud of the team," said Blank. "They represented the university well, and made a giant leap forward in gaining international recognition for our students." Blank has coached the team for the last two years.

Acxiom Corporation supplied local support, allowing the team to travel to the Netherlands. Also traveling was the reserve team, which was composed of Thomas Wynne, Josh Turner, and Troy Gilbert. IBM provided support in the Netherlands.

ADDITIONAL INFO FOR ARKANSAS PRESS

Jim Gage is from Mansfield, AR.
Stephen Smith is from Cove, AR.
Thomas Wynne's parents live in Rose Bud, AR.
Josh Turner is from Rogers, AR.
Troy Gilbert is from Rogers, AR.

Further information can be found at:
http://acm.baylor.edu/icpc/
http://www.acm.org/contest