We'll be hosting this beautiful trophy for another year!
UMM had another excellent outing at the annual Digi-Key Collegiate Computing Competition yesterday, with our two teams taking 1st and 6th of the 21 participating teams from 12 regional schools. Team Quantum Bogosort (Ashley Koch, Jeff Lindblom, Reed Simpson, Tim Snyder) took a very commanding first place overall, scoring over 265 total points, almost 100 points over the second place team. The four team members each received $300 gift certificates, and Digi-Key will bring a $5,000 check for our CSci program in November, along with the bronze travelling trophy, which we’ll host for another year.
Our other team, Ghost Ducks (Brandon Botzet, Phil Coler, Jay Lapham, Matt Lauer) did really well at the “Blenders” (competitions that combine speed and trivia skills), taking first on one and second on the other. They also took first in a competition to build the tallest structure out of Dots and toothpicks, collecting plenty of swag for all three competitions.
UMM teams have taken first place at Digi-Key four times in the past six years, now taking the lead for the most wins since Digi-Key started the competition in 2000. Quantum Bogosort is the 9th UMM team to place in the top three since we were first invited in 2002.
The money that comes to the CSci discipline is used to support important activities such as student travel to conferences and special purchases for the CSci labs.
Many thanks to all these students for their hard work and enthusiasm!
Our initial invitation to the Digi-Key Collegiate Computing Competition was due to the initiative of Dan Flies (’03), who heard about the competition through a friend at an internship and contacted Digi-Key to see if we could attend. We’ve subsequently had several students do internships or take full-time positions at Digi-Key.
