[155] Collegiate "Battle of the Brains" Set for Nov. 5 at MTSU

News and Media Relations contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu
MTSU Computer Science contact: Dr. Chrisila Pettey, 615-898-2397 or Chrisila.Pettey@mtsu.edu

Collegiate ‘battle of the brains’ set for Nov. 5 at MTSU

MURFREESBORO — MTSU will be trying to defend its first-ever Association for Computing Machinery Mid-Central USA Programming Contest title on its own turf.

On Saturday, Nov. 5, MTSU will host the 36th annual ACM Mid-Central USA contest for the first time in nearly 20 years. The five-hour contest starts at 12:30 p.m.

Citing what MTSU Department of Computer Science Chair Chrisila Pettey called “technical difficulties” a month from the contest date, longtime host Tennessee Tech asked Pettey if MTSU would hold the event.

Pettey and her faculty and staff said yes.

“A lot of good people are working to pull this off,” Pettey said. “The math department really cooperated. They’re letting us use all their labs and conference rooms.”

Math and computer science both are located in Kirksey Old Main, the contest site.

Nine universities with a combined 25 teams are competing. Vanderbilt and East Tennessee State University will have four, three-members teams. The University of North Alabama,Tennessee Tech and Maryville College have three teams. Belmont, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Tennessee State University and MTSU will enter two teams.

MTSU Blueraider #1 earned first-place honors in 2010, solving seven of nine problems, and finishing eighth overall in the entire 142-team Mid-Central region that includes Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois (including the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area), Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Drs. Sung Yoo and Zhijiang Dong coach both Blueraider #1 and Blueraider #2.

In the contest, each team is issued a set of problems that they try to solve in C++ or Java software programs, Pettey said. When they finish, they submit the answer to the judges. Once the judges approve, the team receives a new problem. At 5:30 p.m., time is called, and the team with the most solved problems wins.

Pettey said the software programs will be tested often — to ensure they’re working — this week.

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Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU is celebrating its 100th anniversary with special events and activities throughout the 2011-12 academic year.
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