MACON- Mercer University’s computer programming team, the Binary Bears, recently had four student teams place in the top five among Division II teams at the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Regional Programming Contest Championship.
The contest was held at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. Students were asked to use their mathematics, data processing and computer knowledge to solve as many problems as they could in five hours using a single computer.
Mercer students Samson Alva of Dubai, U.A.E. , Cody Boisclair of Warner Robins and Charles Thorogood of Smyrna, solved an impressive eight problems, beating out Division I teams that included graduate students from Mississippi State University, Clemson University and Auburn University. The student team placed ninth overall out of 88 teams. The team also placed first in the Division II category.
Mercer students Wes Fincher of Woodstock, Drew Hartley of Peachtree City and Joshua Smith of Acworth placed second in the Division II category. The Mercer student team with Macon residents Brandon Bowden, Stacy Edwards and James Sipe placed fourth in Division II. And Dee Olutayo of Smyrna, Britt Daniel of Watkinsville and James Huamonte of Miama, Fla., placed fifth in Division II.
“I think we did so well because had students from a cross-section of disciplines on each team,” said Dr. Andy Digh, an assistant professor of computer science at Mercer’s College of Liberal Arts and the Binary Bears’ faculty adviser. “For example, one team had a computer engineering student, a physics student and a computer science student. Their talents complemented one another.”
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