[163] Vanderbilt Captures "Battle of the Brains" Computer Contest Nov. 5 at MTSU

Today’s date: Nov. 7, 2011

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


Vanderbilt captures ‘battle of the brains’ computer contest Nov. 5 at MTSU

MURFREESBORO — Vanderbilt Red earned first-place honors here Nov. 5 in the 36th annual Association for Computing Machinery Mid-Central USA Programming Contest in the “battle of the brains” regional held at MTSU.

The Vanderbilt Red trio of Krzysztof Zienkiewicz, Zach McCormick and Richard Williams solved five problems during the five-hour contest, which was held in Kirksey Old Main. Unofficially, Vanderbilt placed eighth overall in the full 150-team Mid-Central region, which includes Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois (including the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area), Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Finishing second was the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Rounding out the top five were MTSU Blueraider #1, East Tennessee State University Team Edward and ETSU The Toasters. Blueraider #1 unofficially placed 22nd in the entire region. The first five places all solved five problems, but Vanderbilt Red earned the title on tiebreakers.

Blueraider #1 team members included graduate student Michael Chasteen of Smyrna, senior Matthew Houglum of Christiana and senior Nathan Reale of Franklin. They captured the Mid-Central regional held at Tennessee Tech in 2010.

Blueraider #2, which finished sixth this year, included junior Daniel Cowan of Mt. Juliet, senior Anthony Mills of Murfreesboro and grad student Thomas Richards of Germantown, Tenn.

Twenty-five teams from nine universities competed in the ACM Mid-Central at MTSU. Other schools represented included Belmont, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State, Maryville College and the University of North Alabama.



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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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