MELBOURNE, FLA. — The Mercer Binary Bears Computer Programming Team recently captured the attention of many colleges and universities en route to their second straight Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Division II Title. The Mercer students Samson Alva, Cody Boisclair and Britt Daniel kept toe-to-toe with teams from Georgia Tech and the University of Central Florida, the longstanding powerhouses and thoroughbreds of computer programming contests in the Southeast.
During the five-hour contest held on the campus of Florida Tech, students had to solve as many problems as they could with one computer. The problem set included 10 challenging problems with an airplane theme and some very difficult test cases. The Mercer team kept its poise throughout, and placed third in the overall standings among 68 teams by solving five problems with the fewest penalty points. The Southeast Region of the ACM includes Division I schools (those that can have graduate students in Computer Science on their teams) and Division II schools (those without graduate students). The overall winner among both divisions is guaranteed a spot in the World Finals, which this year is held in Shanghai, China.
With five teams, Mercer sent more teams and students in its history to this contest. The Mercer C team, consisiting of students Wes Fincher, Drew Hartley and Charles Thorogood, placed third in the competition. The Mercer D team with students Lance Haney, Micah Nance and Joshua Smith placed fourth.
The Mercer University Binary Bears have one more contest this season, the CCSC Small College Contest on Saturday, Nov. 6. An end of season wrap-up and special colloquium for them will be held on Friday, Nov. 19 at 10 a.m. in the Computer Science Building, room 204.
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