Spectrum - Volume 18 Issue 17 January 18, 1996 - Computer programmers win region

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including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Computer programmers win region

By Sally Harris

Spectrum Volume 18 Issue 17 - January 18, 1996

Virginia Tech's computer-programming team came in first in the 1995 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Mid-Atlantic Regional Contest recently.

Sallie Henry, associate professor of computer science, coaches the Virginia Tech team, which has placed either first or second in the region for the past eight years. A first or second in the region qualifies a team to compete in the international programming contest.

The Virginia Tech team, made up of students Adam Florence of electrical engineering, Nathan Fink of computer science, Nick Loehr of computer science and math, and alternate Tracy Cramer of computer engineering, will now compete at the ACM international competition February 17 in Philadelphia. Virginia Tech's team has consistently placed in the top half internationally, but recently has finished sixth, fourth, and third.

The ACM enlarged the Mid-Atlantic Region this year to include the entire Research Triangle Park area in North Carolina. The largest number of teams ever, 74, competed in the contest, which involved eight computing problems.

Virginia Tech competed against the University of Virginia, the University of West Virginia, the University of Maryland, Rutgers, the University of Delaware, Duke, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, among others.