Computer Engineering Students Tops in International Competition

UMaine computing engineering students recently placed first and second in the Northeastern United States in an international programming competition, and in the top 100 of 1,500 teams from around the world.

Three teams from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering participated in the fifth IEEEXtreme International Programming contest in late October. Competition results were announced this week, revealing that two of the UMaine teams won first and second places in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Region 1, which includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. Team members will receive plaques and certificates for their achievement.

The team Megaflops, winning first in the Northeastern Region, included Jason Monk, Aaron McCollough and Forrest Flagg. The team ShortCircuits won second. Its members were Gabriel Noblesmith, Alexander Arseneau and Corey Birdsall.

Megaflops and ShortCircuits solved nine and eight questions, respectively, and ranked 75th and 91st out of 1,500 teams worldwide. Nationally, their ranking was 13th and 21st.

The IEEE’s programming contest is a global competition, with more than 4,000 students from more than 65 countries participating this year. Teams have 24 hours to solve 15 questions dealing with topics like optimization, spatial movement and other computer algorithms. Teams are ranked on the number of questions solved and the time taken to solve them.

Volunteer proctors professors Yifeng Zhu and David Kotecki of the UMaine computer engineering faculty sat with the teams to oversee the process.

Contact: Yifeng Zhu, (207) 581-2499