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Westminster College Faculty Host High School Programming Contest

Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2012

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - Westminster College faculty and students from the Mathematics and Computer Science Department hosted a high school programming contest on Oct. 8.

Dr. John Bonomo, associate professor of computer science, designed and ran the contest. Bonomo, who has been with Westminster since 1998, earned a joint master's and undergraduate degree from Catholic University and Ph.D. from Purdue University.

Bonomo is an active organizer and problem contributor to local, regional, and international programming contests and has been head judge for the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) East Regional Programming Contest since 2000.  He was a judge and problem contributor for the international competition for the past 10 years, including in Stockholm, Sweden, Harbin, China; Orlando, Fla; and Warsaw, Poland.

Associate Professor of Computer Science Dr. David Shaffer assisted Bonomo. Shaffer, who has been with Westminster since 2000, earned an undergraduate degree from Stevens Institute of Technology and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

The following computer science students also assisted during the contest: Peter Barber, Anthony Caratelli, and Ryen Wilkins

Caratelli, a senior computer science major, is a son of Arthur and Lesa Caratelli of Darlington and a graduate of Blackhawk High School.

Barber, a junior computer science major, is a son of Robert and Lisa Barber of New Castle and a graduate of Mohawk Area High School.

Wilkins, a senior computer science major, is a son of Barbara Natale and Victor Wilkins of New Castle and a graduate of Mohawk Area High School.

The participating teams were from Blackhawk High School and North Allegheny High School. The teams consisted of three to four high students each, who worked for two and a half hours on six computer programming problems.  Students submitted solutions and received feedback from the judges electronically, while an electronic score sheet displayed updated results throughout the contest. Blackhawk Team 1 won the contest, while North Allegheny teams took second and third.

Contact Bonomo at (724) 946-7287 or email for additional information. 

More information about the contest can also be found here.

Peter Barber, Anthony Caratelli and Ryen Wilkins
Dr. John Bonomo, associate professor of computer science
Dr. David Shaffer, associate professor of computer science