The Tartan teammates are huddled over their computer, doing their best to solve the programming problem on the monitor. Get a problem right, get a colored balloon tied to the table—a floating scorecard.
It's the world finals of the Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest, otherwise known as the Battle of the Brains. The top 100 collegiate teams from around the world have traveled to Stockholm, Sweden, for the annual competition. They were selected from more than 7,100 teams from 1,800 universities in 88 countries. The competition is meant to encourage creativity in programming to solve real-world problems, like maximizing landing schedules for planes.
Carnegie Mellon is represented by Alan Pierce (CS'11), Tom Conerly (CS'11), and Celestine Lau (E'10). They are a bit surprised to be in Stockholm. Each school year, two teams of three are hand-picked by computer science professor Greg Kesden from his Competition Programming and Problem Solving class. The two teams then compete in a regional contest.
Pierce, Conerly, and Lau practiced for regionals by solving sample problems from previous competitions. During one practice round, which usually lasts five hours, the trio—considered the B team—completed the problems in half the time.
Going into regionals, they surprised everyone—even themselves—by edging out Carnegie Mellon's A team in the last 45 seconds of the contest, finishing second in the region and securing a spot at the world finals.
On competition day in Stockholm, the teams have 11 problems they're tasked to solve. That may not seem like many, but most teams don't finish in the five-hour period allotted. Each team of three is given only one computer, forcing teamwork and cooperation. While one furiously scribbles code on a piece of paper, another types it as fast as he can. The third teammate watches the computer screen intently, trying to catch any mistakes as early as possible. One by one, balloons start going up; Meanwhile, also above the teams is a camera whizzing by on a track suspended from the ceiling, broadcasting a live feed to a local TV station.
In the end, six balloons floated over the Tartans' computer station, two more than any other Carnegie Mellon team before them. Their efforts earned them second place out of all American universities and a 12th-place overall finish, which merited bronze medals—the first medals the university has ever won at Battle of the Brains. The teammates were delighted to establish a winning precedent for future teams from Carnegie Mellon, including one that qualified to compete in the 2010 Battle of the Brains, taking place in Harbin, China.
—Shannon Deep (CMU'10)
