A team of Illinois State student computer programmers competed this year in the World Finals of the 35th annual Association for Computer Machinery’s International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM ICPC) in Egypt.

Coached by School of Information Technology faculty member Mary Goodwin, the team was one of 100 from across the globe invited to the World Finals and one of only 20 North American teams.

ISU’s Onward and Upward team included seniors Ryan Newman, Clint Riley, and Sarah Steffen. They earned the World Finals invitation after a fourth place finish out of 142 teams in the regional competition last fall. Four other ISU teams placed in the top 50 in the regionals.

Worldwide more than 7,000 teams 
entered this year’s regional contest, including 1,113 teams from North 
America. Other U.S. teams at the finals were from Princeton, MIT, and Duke. Teams had five hours, one computer, and between seven and 10 programming problems to solve.