(Posted: February 18, 2009) (Printable Version)
Two teams of students from the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith placed first and fifth in a statewide computer science competition held in Conway, beating out several other colleges and universities.
The competition, sponsored by the Acxiom Laboratory for Applied Research, had three competitive programming divisions, Computer and Information Science, Information Systems, and Computer Science. UA Fort Smith’s winning teams were in the Computer Science division.
Taking first place was Sam Shores of Alma and Ryan Ewing of Fort Smith. Fifth place went to Chris Alderson of Fort Smith and Chris Dungan of Gans. The students were given eight problems to solve within a five-hour period. Teams solving the most problems the fastest were the winners. The first-place team solved six of the eight problems, one of only two teams to do so.
Rick Massengale of Fort Smith, information technology instructor at UA Fort Smith, said this was only the second year for UA Fort Smith to have a competitive programming team.
“This being our first win says a lot about the quality of our students and the quality of the education they are receiving in the class,” he said. “These teams have met the challenge against the best programmers who are their peers in the state’s universities and colleges. They not only held their own, but they excelled.”
Also competing in the programming contest were Arkansas State University, Arkansas State University - Beebe, Arkansas Tech University, Harding University, Hendrix College, Ouachita Baptist University, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, University of Arkansas at Monticello, University of Central Arkansas, and the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts.
Massengale said UA Fort Smith’s high place in the competition also demonstrates a high level of student learning to the business community.
“The talent is here, and the results of this contest further demonstrate that the quality is also here as well,” said Massengale.
The next competition for the team will be in Martin, Tenn., in April, where they will be competing against teams from universities and colleges from throughout the southeastern part of the United States.
Two other teams from UA Fort Smith also participated in the competition at Conway. In addition, students from the Western Arkansas Technical Center, which is housed at UA Fort Smith, are preparing for a SkillsUSA competition by going through the same preparation that the programming teams use. WATC is a secondary center that provides high school juniors and seniors from 18 school districts and opportunity to earn college credit while still in high school.
“We hope to start a tradition in information technology that reaches all the way back to the area high schools,” said Massengale. “UA Fort Smith information technology students are prepared to meet the challenges locally, regionally and nationally, which is proven by their recent accomplishments.”
In addition to Massengale, other faculty coaches include instructor John Hightower of Sallisaw and assistant professor Ken Pappas of Fort Smith, with assistant professor Gail Fulenwider of Alma as the WATC and junior coach.
The Acxiom Laboratory for Applied Research (ALAR) connects Acxiom Corporation with the intellectual resources of its research partners and conducts cutting-edge applied research.
| Article by: Sondra LaMar, Director of Public Relations | |
| Photo(s) by: Jamie Mitchell of Jamie Mitchell Photography |
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