MARQUETTE, Mich.— A Northern Michigan University finished in third place in the Association for Computer Machinery North Central Regional Programming Contest.

Northern’s team MJC was one of 18 teams competing in the event, which was held at Lake Superior State University. Team members were: senior Joshua Cook from Marquette; junior Matthew Knox from Lincoln Park, Mich.; and junior Charles Rye from Rudyard, Mich. All three are computer science majors. 

            The contest pits teams of three university students against eight or more complex, real-world problems, with a five-hour deadline. Huddled around a single computer, competitors race against the clock in a battle of logic, strategy and mental endurance. Teammates collaborate to rank the difficulty of the problems, deduce the requirements, design test beds, and build software systems that solve the problems under the intense scrutiny of expert judges. The contest is designed to foster creativity, teamwork, innovation and the ability to perform under pressure.