Team Duke Firkochen: Coach Owen Astrachan, Nadeed Kolia, Andrew First, Siyang Chen

On Saturday, November 7, 2009, over one hundred teams of undergraduates from New Jersey to North Carolina took part in the annual ACM Mid-Atlantic Regional Programming contest. At Duke, twenty-six local teams gathered in the LSRC to sweat it out in this all-day programming challenge.

The day began early with rules and practice to familiarize students with the software and the process. At noon, the problems were handed out and teams rushed to their offices: Teams of three with one computer were given eight problems to solve over five hours. This year, four Duke teams competed, many of which prepared for the competition in CompSci 149S, a half-credit class offered by Professor Owen Astrachan. In the class, students tackle previous competition problems and discuss team strategy.

This year the problems were quite difficult with only seven teams solving more than two problems and only forty-eight teams solving one or more problems. Three of the four Duke teams placed in the contest. Team Duke Firkochen solved six problems and placed 2nd, Duke Waglujo solved two problems and placed 13th. Team Duke Tubeezer solved one problem and placed 21st. Team Duke Elkeka also participated.

Professor Susan Rodger was the director at the Duke site and Robert Duvall was the Duke site judge. Since Duke began hosting the event, a Duke team has advanced to the finals every year but one. In fact, Duke has been to the world finals more often in the past sixteen years than any other US team. This year was no exception: The Duke team, composed of Andrew First, Nadeed Kolia, and Siyang Chen competed in the ACM World Finals in Harbin, China on February 1-6 and placed respectably.