Regional programming contest is Nov. 11 at Avery Hall

Computer science and engineering students from more than a dozen schools will be on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus Nov. 11 for the North Central North America Regional competition. The competition is part of the IBM-sponsored Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest.

Teams are made up of three students, usually undergraduates, led by a student or faculty coach. The teams face a series of eight to 10 complex, real-world programming challenges to be completed in just five hours. The problems are designed to test not only programming skill, but also creativity and teamwork. The team that solves the most problems in the least amount of time will advance to the World Finals March 12-16 in Tokyo.

The North Central North America Regional includes colleges and universities in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Manitoba and western Ontario. Five teams will represent UNL. The competition will take place from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Avery Hall, 12th and T streets on City Campus. Following the competition there will be an evening reception and awards ceremony.

Worldwide, tens of thousands of students from 68 countries are expected to compete in this year's contest. Eighty-five teams will qualify to compete in Tokyo.