UAB will compete in Battle of the Brains
Mike Boody, Staff Writer
Published On: 11/ 3/2009
When you hear about college championships, you might think football or basketball — tough and grueling rivalries between teams competing for bragging rights on a national scale. But students from UAB will be throwing themselves into a different kind of contest this year, one they hope will culminate on an international playing field for a grand prize called the “world’s smartest trophy.”
Beginning in November, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) will hold their 34th annual International Collegiate Contest — in short, the “Battle of the Brains.” The contest will involve about 7,000 teams from approximately 90 countries across the globe, each of whom will be challenged to use their computer skills, logic and mental endurance to solve real world problems on a tight deadline.
UAB will be sending a team to compete in the decisive first round of problem solving at the University of South Alabama Nov. 7. There, they will be competing against rosters from regional colleges such as Mississippi State University, Samford and Columbia State. Teams of three will have five hours to solve a variety of problems. Whoever completes the most problems correctly will win a prized spot at the contest finals, held Feb. 1-6 in Harbin, China.
The ACM traces the contests’ roots back to the 1970s as part of an initiative to challenge the top students in the emerging field of computer science. Just like a national athletic championship, the contest is a mining operation, held to find the best and brightest talent from around the world. Those students who stand out might be the leading minds of their generation.
“These students possess an amazing talent to solve pressing issues involving transportation, energy, water, climate and health,” said Alan Ganek, chief technology officer and vice president of strategy for business and technology at IBM, which sponsors the event. “They are a generation with the ability to change the very way of life on planet Earth.”
This year, there will be more talent for industries, think tanks and governments to choose from than ever before.
Though the event started small three decades ago, the idea gained esteem in the United States and Canada, and soon spread to all parts of the world. Since IBM began backing the event in 1997, the contest’s popularity has grown 800 percent. Currently, participation in the contest includes students and faculty at 1,838 universities from 88 countries on six continents.
Previous winners of the coveted trophy include teams from Russia, China and Poland. In 2007 and 2008, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology placed among the top four teams in the world.
ACM fosters an ongoing commitment to advancing the skills of information technology professionals and students. This year their contest, anchored at Baylor University in Texas since 1989, will be focused on creating sustainable solutions for the rapidly changing world.
“The world faces some really daunting challenges,” said Doug Heintzman, sponsorship executive of the contest. “It’s going to take some very bright, creative and innovative problem-solvers to tackle these problems.”
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