Murray State hosts national competition

    Put on your thinking caps because it is time to fight it out at the 34th annual “Battle of the
Brains” competition hosted by Murray State.
    Students from Murray State and neighboring universities have the chance to show off their computer programming skills when they compete in the IBM-sponsored event from 12:30 - 5:30 p.m. Saturday throughout the second floor of the Business Building.
    The International Collegiate Programming Competition is also known as “Battle of the Brains.”
    It challenges students to solve realistic computer problems using mental endurance and advanced computing methods while trying to meet a five-hour deadline, William Lyle, associate professor of computer science and coach for both Murray State teams, said.  
    Lyle said six Murray State students from the Association for Computer Machinery will compete. These include Josh Stump, junior from Maysville, Ky., Matthew Arseneault, senior from Manassas, Va., Chance Badger, junior from Mayfield, Ky., Traci Glass, junior from Hopkinsville, Ky., Tim Sparks, sophomore from Louisville, Ky., Matt Bellgard, freshman from Wadesville, Ky., and James Jones, sophomore from Hopkinsville, KY., as an alternate, Lyle said. 
    Murray State is one of nine universities in the mid-central region that hosts the event, Lyle said. Competitors from universities in Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee are scheduled to compete Saturday, he said.
    Two teams from UT-Martin, University of Evansville, Rhodes College and Murray State, and one team from Union University, will make a total of nine teams to compete for a chance to go to the World Finals in Harbin, China, in February, Lyle said.
    Each team of three will receive roughly seven different problems during the competition. They will solve as many problems as they can in the allotted times by developing their own programs.
    The coaches of each team also serve as the judges for the competition. Lyle is the coach for both Murray State teams. He said while they have never made it to the finals, he always hopes to.
    Arseneault said he believes the University of Evansville will be their biggest competitor this year because of their success last year.
    Arseneault, who is a member of the team C+ What?, said this is his first year competing, but he looks forward to the feeling of accomplishment that will come from the competition, even if they do not advance to the next round.
    Sparks, who is a member of team TMT, said this is his first year competing as well, but he knows what to expect because he assisted in the competition last year.
    Whoever makes their program work correctly in the shortest amount of time with the fewest attempts, while solving as many problems as possible, wins, Sparks said.
    The winner of Saturday’s competition will enter the national pool of teams, then the highest scoring teams will be picked to attend the World Finals, Sparks said.
    While Sparks said he looks forward to solving algorithms and math problems, his favorite thing about this event will be meeting people from different schools.
    “You get to see how different people think,” Sparks said. “You get to see how they would solve a problem differently than how you would solve it.”
    Contact Steele at stephanie.steele@murraystate.edu.

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