ACM Programming Contest Relocated from Egypt to Orlando

The Dragons, Carnegie Mellon's team in the IBM-sponsored Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest, are one of only 18 U.S. teams headed for the World Finals in Orlando, Fla., May 27-31.

The Dragons- computer science majors Nathaniel Barshay, Tom Conerly and Si Young Oh- qualified for the World Finals by placing second in ACM-ICPC East Central North American regional contest in Cincinnati last October. More than 8,300 teams worldwide sought a place in the annual "Battle of the Brains." Only the 105 top teams qualified for the finals.

The World Finals originally were scheduled to take place in March in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, but were relocated to Orlando because of the Egyptian revolution.

Computer Science Professor Danny Sleator, who coaches the Carnegie Mellon programming teams, along with Eugene Fink, senior systems scientist, and PhD students Richard Peng and Kevin Waugh, said the Dragons are one of the strongest teams that the university has fielded to date. The teams have done well in recent years, earning a bronze medal two years ago and finishing just outside of medal contention last year.

Travel and all other team expenses have been generously provided once again this year by IMC Financial Markets of Chicago.