Spring Break
Drexel programmers compete on regional level
Josh Kurtz
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: News
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Two teams of Drexel students competed in the regional round of the International Collegiate Programming Contest Oct. 27 at Washington University in Maryland.
One team, the Drexel Hungarian Horntails, was made up of Jeff Patti, Minh Nguyen and Geetika Gupta. The other team, the Drexel Norwegian Ridgebacks, included Cosmin Nicolaescu, Shivani Saini and John O'Meara.
All the competitors are seniors majoring in computer science, except for Gupta, a pre-junior majoring in information systems. Patti was part of the Drexel team last year, while all the other students were first-time contest participants.
Although neither team scored well enough to advance, since the top three scoring teams from each region qualify for the International contest, Gupta said she was pleased with her team's performance.
"I think my team performed better than I thought," she said.
However, Gupta said that having a few extra weeks to prepare would have better equipped the teams for the types of problems they could face during the competition.
Jeffrey Popyack, the teams' coach and associate head of undergraduate affairs for Drexel's computer science department, said the contest's scheduling change contributed to Drexel's short preparation period. In the past few years, the regionals were held earlier.
There is "too much going on the first few weeks to really organize things," Popyack said, which leaves only a week or so of practice time before the contest.
Popyack has been involved with the competition, which he said is the foremost college computer-programming contest in the world, since 1984.
"It's a real worldwide event now," Popyack said.
Drexel had a stretch from 1985 to 1991 where they made the International competition six times in eight years, according to Popyack. Although Drexel's recent performances have not been as high, Popyack said he believes the school can return to the International round.
"We certainly have [talent to win] here at Drexel," Popyack said. "[This] is an exciting and stimulating thing to work on."
One team, the Drexel Hungarian Horntails, was made up of Jeff Patti, Minh Nguyen and Geetika Gupta. The other team, the Drexel Norwegian Ridgebacks, included Cosmin Nicolaescu, Shivani Saini and John O'Meara.
All the competitors are seniors majoring in computer science, except for Gupta, a pre-junior majoring in information systems. Patti was part of the Drexel team last year, while all the other students were first-time contest participants.
Although neither team scored well enough to advance, since the top three scoring teams from each region qualify for the International contest, Gupta said she was pleased with her team's performance.
"I think my team performed better than I thought," she said.
However, Gupta said that having a few extra weeks to prepare would have better equipped the teams for the types of problems they could face during the competition.
Jeffrey Popyack, the teams' coach and associate head of undergraduate affairs for Drexel's computer science department, said the contest's scheduling change contributed to Drexel's short preparation period. In the past few years, the regionals were held earlier.
There is "too much going on the first few weeks to really organize things," Popyack said, which leaves only a week or so of practice time before the contest.
Popyack has been involved with the competition, which he said is the foremost college computer-programming contest in the world, since 1984.
"It's a real worldwide event now," Popyack said.
Drexel had a stretch from 1985 to 1991 where they made the International competition six times in eight years, according to Popyack. Although Drexel's recent performances have not been as high, Popyack said he believes the school can return to the International round.
"We certainly have [talent to win] here at Drexel," Popyack said. "[This] is an exciting and stimulating thing to work on."
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