Michigan Tech CS Sophomore to Compete in National Code-Writing Competition
Joe Nievelt, a sophomore in
computer science and math, will compete for $150,000 in prize money at
the 2002 Sun Microsystems and TopCoder Collegiate Challenge at MIT April
19. Nievelt became eligible for
the national computer-code-writing competition based on his third-place
performance in the Midwest Regional Championship March 13. Nationally,
more than 500 college contestants from across the nation competed in one
of four regional championships. The winners of the four regional
events earn an automatic berth in the national competition. Nievelt advanced
to the championship rounds as a "wildcard," finishing among
the next 12 highest point-getters nationwide, regardless of region. The
Midwest's regional champion is another Michigander, Tomas Sirgedas of
Novi, who is a student at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Nievelt has been participating
in TopCoder events since June 2001, earning a rating that ranks him 25th
among all 11,000 TopCoders in the nation and second in the eight-state
Midwest region. David Poplawski, an associate
professor of computer science, has been following Nievelt's progress.
"He solves hard problems faster than I can, and I've been writing
code since 1967," he said. "Joe's the fastest programmer I've
ever seen. He has a great knowledge of computer science, especially for
a sophomore." The top four finishers on April
19 will advance to the finals on April 20 to compete for a grand prize
of $100,000. Second prize is $25,000, with the third- and fourth-place
finishers receiving $8,000 and $5,000. The finalists who don't advance
each receive $1,000. "Given the pedigree of
these outstanding students, it is clear that we have identified the future
leaders of software development and the technology industry," TopCoder
founder and chairman Jack Hughes said. "TopCoder has over 6,000 collegiate
members. These 16 have put in a tremendous effort in order to elevate
above a crowded field of the best and the brightest. The energy and excitement
during the online elimination rounds was amazing. We look forward to seeing
them all at MIT in April." Scoring in TopCoder competitions
is based on two factors: intensity, or the ability to use a particular
coding language under the pressure of competition; and velocity, the ability
to write good code quickly and accurately. Scores are calculated using
TopCoder's objective rating system, designed to fairly and accurately
gauge a contestant's performance. Winners are the fastest among their
peers to solve the problems with code that withstands the scrutiny of
other contestants, as well as TopCoder's system test. Other schools represented in
the TopCoder Collegiate Challenge are Cal Tech, Georgia Tech, Oberlin
College, MIT, Purdue, Stanford, University of California at Berkeley,
University of Central Florida, the University of Minnesota and Virginia
Tech. 3/29/02
