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IBM's Battle of the Brains to Determine World's Top College Programmers
More than 120 teams from around the world will converge in Ekaterinburg, Russia for this year’s finals of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), also known as the Battle of the Brains. The competition features 19 teams from the US.
The programming contest challenges teams of three to solve complex, real-world programming problems under a strict give hour deadline. This year’s compeition will feature new trends, such as cognitive computing--made famous by Watson, a supercomputer that competed on Jeopardy, made by IBM, the competition’s sponsor.
The 122 teams emerged from local and regional ICPC competitions this past fall. Initially, selection took place from a field of more than 300,000 students in computing disciplines worldwide. Among the 19 American universities competing are MIT, NYU, and Virginia Tech.
"Our goal as the sponsor of this event is to recognize and celebrate excellence in the next generation of computer scientists, and to provide insight and knowledge that will help them successfully transition from students into business and technology professionals," said Alain Azagury at IBM, a member of the IBM Academy of Technology and Sponsorship Executive of the ICPC.
"In Ekaterinburg, IBM will have the opportunity to engage with the very best and brightest students of computing in the world. The competition enables us to give top priority to elite talent. In fact, each year many members of the winning team are generally offered positions with IBM as interns or full-time employees."
The ICPC will begin at 10:00 am local time--12 am/9 pm EST/PST--in Ekaterinburg on June 25. A live broadcast will air on ICPCLive.com.
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Stephen Noonoo is a contributing editor. He is on Twitter @stephenoonoo.