With only a month to practice, two teams of students from Ohio State placed in the top 20 at a regional computer programming competition Saturday.

OSU’s teams traveled to the University of Cincinnati to compete alongside more than 110 other teams in the Eastern Regional ACM-International Collegiate Programming Contest, sponsored by IBM and informally known as “Battle of the Brains.”

The top two teams from the competition — from Carnegie Mellon and the University of Michigan — will advance to the world finals of the competition in February, said Bruce Weide, OSU team adviser and professor in computer science and engineering.

Each of OSU’s two teams was comprised of three students studying computer science. Third-year Moustafa Eid, fourth-year Brandon Sorg and fourth-year Minh Pham competed for team Buckeye Alpha, placing ninth overall. Third-year Jack Chenge, second-year Stephan Halter and third-year James Austrow competed for team Buckeye Beta and placed 18th.

Although OSU’s teams will not advance to the world finals, they were pleased with their performances.

Eid said he and a few other teammates had previous experience in computer programming competitions, which is what prompted them to put together a team on short notice.

“We only had a month to prepare and we were all busy with school,” Eid said. “We only had the weekends to practice. We didn’t win, but for how little we practiced, we did very well.”

Weide said his main role was to “pay registration for the competition and wish them luck.”

He said OSU had not participated in the ACM-ICPC competition in recent years, and most of the teams in the competition practice year-round.

Eid said he would like to see OSU’s Computer Science Department work more closely with students to do a better job of preparing them for the competition.

“We’re working to get more students involved and attention from the university,” he said.

At the regional level, more than 1,800 universities send teams of three to compete in qualifiers all over the world, said Doug Heintzman, director of strategy for IBM Software Group and Sponsorship of the ACM-ICPC.

Teams get five hours to complete 10 questions that are constructed by an international panel of the world’s top computer analysts, he said.

Teams practice by completing real-world problems using math and science skills, as well as computer programs, Heintzman said.

The problems range in difficulty, but Heintzman said that they aren’t run-of-the-mill problem solving questions.

“Some of the problems only a few mortals on the planet could solve,” he said.

The winning teams are determined by how many problems they complete, how long it takes them and how many penalty minutes they receive for wrong answers, Heintzman said.

This year, the world finals are in Harbin, China, and more than 300 students from 88 countries will be present. Only one team will win, even though many others will receive honorable mention.

Heintzman said IBM takes great pride in sponsoring the competition because it showcases some of the world’s brightest, upcoming talents.

He also said IBM uses the competition as a recruiting tool to hire researchers for its labs all over the world.

“We like to think we get the first shot at these people,” Heintzman said.
“Last year, in my division, every hiring ticket went to a world or regional finalists.”

For many of the winners and finalists, he said, the biggest prize is the chance at a career most would normally not have the opportunity to pursue.