Undergraduate Team Finishes Top in Computer Programming Contest
One team representing University of Maine, participated in the biggest annual computer programming contest in the world. They finished with the second highest ranking of all teams in the north-eastern part of the U.S., including Maine, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
This UMaine team, named RedZeppelin, consists of Graham Van Goffrier (Physics and Electrical Engineering, Mathematics minor), Noah Ransom (Computer Science), and Logan Boyd (Physics, Electrical Engineering minor).
The tenth-annual IEEEXtreme 24-Hour Programming Competition is a global marathon race which challenges students’ skills, collaboration, and stamina. They work collaboratively to solve a series of challenging programming problems over a 24-hour race. 6300 students completed this year. Each team can consist of three students, two of which can be graduate students. The University of Maine team are all undergraduates. Teams are ranked on the number of programming problems solved and the time taken to solve them.
Dr. Weaver and Dr. Zhu of Electrical and Computer Engineering served as advisors and proctors of this student team. “After watching them writing software continuously for 24 hours to solve problems not only correctly but also efficiently, we are very proud of their efforts and achievement.” The is the third UMaine undergraduate team to place in the northeastern region. In 2011, two teams achieved No. 1 and No. 2 rankings in the region.
