Computer science teams compete at CCSC programming contest

09/29/2014 5:27 PM

By Shanlee Bratten ‘15

Two Bradley computer science teams competed at the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Midwest Region programming contest in late September. The teams, comprised of students in the University’s Association for Computing Machinery club, finished in the top 15.

Produce Pro Software, whose VP of Operations is Tony Zuccato ‘92, sponsored the Bradley teams, paying for all travel, lodging, food, and registration expenses for the students and ACM faculty advisor, Dr. Matthew Tennyson. Produce Pro Software specializes in offering software solutions, industry consulting, and system monitoring in the fresh food distribution market.

The team of Christa Cox ’15, of Lowpoint, Illinois; Krzysztof Czelusniak ’16 of Naperville, Illinois; and Jacob Siegers ’15, of Crystal Lake, Illinois, finished 10^th at the competition. ACM chapter president Sarah Fields ’15, of Carmel, Indiana; Nathan Clark ’16, of Astoria, Illinois; and Dakota Leonard ’16 of Lowpoint, Illinois, finished 14^th. Nick Luciani ’16 of Geneseo, Illinois, also participated, joining a team from Knox College that placed fifth in the competition.

The weekend at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, provided a creative spark for the teams, as Fields noted.

“It was nice to be with computer science students from the region for a weekend,” she said. “Plus, I’ll be able to adapt some of these problems to be used for our ACM club.”

Teams, chosen by Tennyson, were given eight complex problems to solve in four hours. Speed and accuracy determined ranking of the 26 participating teams.

Participants credited the event for stretching their knowledge of classroom concepts.

“This was a good test of what I’ve learned so far,” said Siegers.

The conference also provided professional networking opportunities for students.