Programmers compete in IBM ‘Battle of Brains’

November 2, 2009 —

While some trick-or-treated and others went to Halloween parties, six SVSU computer programmers put their heads together for IBM’s annual “Battle of the Brains.”

Two teams of three competed at the University of Michigan Saturday for the qualifiers of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, a worldwide annual competition that presents teams with at least six complex programming problems. Teams spent five hours huddled over a computer to finish and get no assistance from their coaches.

Around 100 students competed from colleges across Michigan.

Morteza Marzjarani, professor of computer science and coach for the two teams, explained that it is beneficial for students to apply what they learn in the classroom. By participating, they can see what will be expected of them in the real work world, he said, adding that the problems test the student’s logic skills more than anything else.

The questions involve real-life situations. Each question is about a page or two long, with a helpful picture or diagram. Problems from previous contests are located on the event’s Web site for students to study.

One past problem involved walking traffic in an airport. Contestants had to write a computer program that would determine which terminals should be placed next to each other to reduce traffic flow.

Past competitors have had to design a program to find the maximum number of trees that could be cut down without one touching another. Others devised programs to transpose notes from one major scale to the next, and determine how to open a circular combination lock.

SVSU’s students were selected by the computer science faculty. Marzjarani said they look for students in their classes with promising talent and ask them to get involved.

Chad Stephens, a computer science junior, hadn’t heard about the competition beforehand but said it sounded interesting, and he wanted to give it a try.

Rochelle Hand, a computer science junior, said before the competition that she knows it will be a challenge, but said, “I will be interested to see what I can do.”

Hand’s teammates were computer science majors Nick Blessing and Spencer Biery. Stephens’ included computer science major Evan Schultz and accounting major Aaron Maturen.

The team that solved the most problems correctly in the least amount of time would go on to compete at the world finals in China.

This year’s competition will draw more than 7,100 students from more than 1,800 universities in 88 countries around the world.

Marzjarani said he is always impressed that students are willing to sacrifice their weekends to represent SVSU and learn more about computer programming.