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Students Participated in Programming Contest

Posted on Thursday, October 28, 2010

Two teams of Westminster College students participated in the 2010 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) East Central North America Programming Contest Oct. 23-24 at Youngstown State University.

The teams were under the direction of Dr. John Bonomo, Westminster associate professor of computer science, and Dr. Terri Lenox, associate professor and chair of Westminster's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

Bonomo contributed several problems and served as head judge.

Team 1 included:

Amanda Gentzel, a senior sacred music and computer science major, is a daughter of David and Margaret Gentzel of Wexford and a graduate of Pine-Richland High School.

Joshua Glasser, a junior mathematics major, is a son of David and Suzanne Glasser of Mansfield, Ohio, and a graduate of Lexington High School.

Aaron Zavora, a senior mathematics and computer science major, is a son of David and Suzanne Zavora of Westmoreland City and a graduate of Norwin High School.

Team 2 members were:

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

Dylan Karas, a junior computer science major, is a son of Charles and Josie Karas of Aliquippa and a graduate of Hopewell High School.

Timothy Matyas, a senior computer science and music major, is a son of Timothy and Robin Matyas of Houston and a graduate of Chartiers-Houston High School.

Contestants were given a set of eight programming problems and five hours to solve as many as possible. Points were awarded based on the number of problems solved correctly, as well as the speed with which solutions were obtained.

Both Westminster teams solved two problems to finish 57th and 58th. Winning teams were from Waterloo University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Michigan.

Youngstown State was one of four sites where the IBM-sponsored contest was held. Other locations were: Grand Valley State University (Michigan), the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Windsor (Ontario). The contest drew students from colleges and universities throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, eastern Ontario, and Indiana. This year's contest hosted 112 teams.

The contest, sponsored by IBM, provides college students with opportunities to interact with students from other universities, and to sharpen and demonstrate their problem-solving, programming, and teamwork skills.

Contact Bonomo at (724) 946-7287 or e-mail bonomojp@westminster.edu for more information.

Team 1 (l-r): Joshua Glasser, Amanda Gentzel, Aaron Zavora
Team 2 (l-r): Dylan Karas, Timothy Matyas, Anthony Caratelli