November 9, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Two teams representing the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Computer and Information Systems both placed in the top 20 of 78 teams in the U.S. Southeast regional round of the IBM-sponsored Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) International Collegiate Contest in Mobile Saturday Nov. 7.

The UAB teams were the Drakes and Hydras. Finishing the regional round in 16th place was team Drakes, made up of students Jeff Frees, Eric Frees and Patrick Butler. Team Hydras, made up of students Yu Chang, Dan Mondy and Robert Cloud, finished in 18th place.

Under the contest rules, teams were given a set of problems to solve with computer programming in a set period of time. The Drakes finished four of the competition problems and the Hydras were able to complete three. Teams were judged on the number of problems solved and how quickly they resolved the problems; the number of unsatisfactory program attempts also factored in the scoring.

More than 7,000 worldwide teams participated in the regional rounds of the 34th annual competition, with only 100 teams advancing to the World Finals set for February 2010, in Harbin, China.

See complete ACM contest results from the U.S. Southeast region by clicking here.

About UAB

The Department of Computer and Information Sciences is located within the UAB College of Arts and Sciences. Its undergraduate program provides a bachelor's of science degree with the opportunity to minor in another discipline as well as co-op programs with local industry. CIS also offers programs of study leading to master's and doctoral degrees, as well as interdisciplinary bioinformatics and computer forensics programs.