UNL coders to compete against top computer programmers in Tokyo

A team of computer programmers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will complete a semester's worth of work in one afternoon at the World Finals of the Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest next month in Tokyo. Travis Meinders (Pleasant Hill, Iowa), Yuliy Pisetsky (Omaha, Neb.) and Derrick Stolee (Perham, Minn.) will represent UNL as they challenge some of the world's brightest students.

More than 6,000 teams representing 1,756 universities participated in regional ACM-ICPC competitions last fall. The top 88 teams will compete in Tokyo March 12-16. The contest gives computer programmers the chance to hone their problem-solving skills and mental endurance by solving eight or more highly complex real-world problems under a grueling five-hour deadline. Programmers must tackle problems such as developing a routing program to ensure secure business transactions over the Internet, or designing a Global Positioning System navigation program. The team that solves the most problems correctly in the least time will win scholarships and awards from event co-sponsor IBM.

For the three UNL seniors, all students in the J.D. Edwards Honors Program in Computer Science and Management, the Tokyo competition is the icing on the cake of their successful career as a programming team. The three joined forces as sophomores, and that year took sixth place at the regional competition. They decided they had a good thing going, and stuck together in subsequent seasons. Last year, they won the regional and received an honorable mention at the World Finals in San Antonio. Now, a few months shy of graduation, they are again gearing up for the World Finals and looking forward to exploring the contest's host country.

"It's pretty exciting, and it's always nice to take a little break from school," Meinders said. "I'm looking forward to going to a country I've never been to before. It'll be a nice break for us, and we all have a good time together. We're certainly going to take a couple days to go up to Kyoto on a train trip."

"This is definitely something that I wouldn't have done for a long time, without this opportunity presenting itself," Pisetsky said. "This competition is a chance to meet some really interesting people from all around the world. Last year, we talked to teams from Europe, Asia and New Zealand; it's interesting how the competition really ties everyone together. We all care about the same things."

The team members meet to practice every Wednesday. They examine problems from past contests to get a sense of what to expect in the upcoming competition. "All three of us work together on a set of problems and share a single computer," Pisetsky said. "My specialty is parts of the more mathematical problems, and some geometry and a little calculus when needed. Derek's more into graph theory and Travis is pretty strong on computational geometry."

Often, Meinders added, the practice sessions are their only chance to catch up with each other, as busy schedules limit their time to just hang out.

Perhaps the Tokyo trip will offer more opportunities for team bonding. "I'm sure we're going to have to sing some karaoke," Meinders said.

CONTACT: Charles Riedesel, Sr. Lecturer, Computer Science and Engineering, (402) 472-3486