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Clarion University programming teams place in competition

Seated Zachary O’Donnell and standing from left, Zachary Spencer, and Zachary Grafton.

PACISE team - Ryan Carper seated with Ethan Sanders (left) and Matt Goodspeed.

Clarion University’s programming teams have had a successful spring, placing second at two competitions.

“Team Zac,” Zachary O’Donnell, Zachary Grafton, and Zachary Spencer, finished second in the 34-team triples division of the 2008 Carnegie Mellon Spring Competition. A second Clarion team, comprised of freshmen Ethan Sanders, Matt Goodspeed and Ryan Carper, finished 12th in the Carnegie Mellon competition and second at Kutztown University’s 23rd annual spring conference of the Pennsylvania Computer and Information Science Educators (PACISE).

Jon O’Donnell, associate professor of computer and information science, coaches the teams. The Clarion University Student Association has funded the efforts of the team by covering travel to the competition.

In the triple’s division, each three-person team is given one computer and 12 problems to solve within a six-hour time limit. The problems require the competitors to write a program that fulfills a certain task. Each correctly solved problem receives one point. Each incorrect problem receives a time penalty in minutes. The team with the most correctly solved problems completed in the least amount of time, wins.

“There is a lot of strategy involved,” said Jon O’Donnell. “Some students excel in thinking and others in writing code. The three team members have to share one computer and trust each other to complete their task in the allotted time.”

The Zac Team successfully solved eight problems to clinch second place. Although Grove City College also solved eight problems, the Zac Team completed the problems in less time and were awarded second.

Bowling Green University, Ohio, won the competition with University of Toledo at LCCC, third; and Butler University, fourth. Other teams competing included University of Pittsburgh, University of Cincinnati, Edinboro University, Youngstown State University, Allegheny College, St. Franics, and Robert Morris University.

“The teams prepare for the competition by working on the problems used at the competition over the last several years,” said O’Donnell. “This provides an opportunity to practice at the same level of difficulty they will find at the competition.”

Google sponsored the Carnegie Mellon competition. “If it weren’t for Google subsidizing this competition, we wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of this opportunity,” said O’Donnell. All the participants in the competition were given a tour of the Pittsburgh Google facility as well.

At PACISE, Sanders, Goodspeed, and Carper recorded the top finish ever by a Clarion University team. The competition includes all 14 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education institutions and other invited colleges. Clarion University has attended the PACISE competition in each of the last nine years, with third place as their highest finish until this year.

Clarion University plans to participate in next year’s International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC,) also known as the Battle of the Brains. The contest challenges students to solve real-world computer programming problems under a grueling, five-hour deadline. Regional bouts run over a period of months, with only 90 teams from around the globe reaching the World Finals.

Zachary O’Donnell, a junior computer science major, is a son of Jon and Kathleen O’Donnell of Clarion and is a graduate of Clarion-Limestone High School.

Grafton, a junior computer science major, is a son of Eric Grafton of Oil City and is a graduate of Oil City High School.

Spencer, a freshman computer science major, is a son of Eileen Galentine of Sykesville and is a graduate of Jeff Tech High School, Reynoldsville.

Sanders, a freshman computer science major, is a son of Robert Sanders of Claysville and is a graduate of McGuffey High School.

Goodspeed, a freshman computer science major, is a son of Monica Goodspeed of Greenville and is a graduate of Keystone Education Center Charter School.

Carper, a freshman computer science major, is a son of Donna Carper of Washington and is a graduate of McGuffey High School.

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