Mines News

Release Date Friday, November 16, 2018

SD Mines Qualifies for 2019 ICPC World Finals in Porto, Portugal

The SD Mines Red Team, who took home first place in the regional competition of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), include (left to right) Michael Pfeifer, Luke Videckis, and Alexander Iverson. 

A student team of coders from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology took first place in the regional competition of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), which qualifies SD Mines for the world finals scheduled for April 2019 in Porto, Portugal.

Mines students on the winning “Red Team” are Alexander Iverson, Michael Pfeifer and Luke Videckis. Mines’ Red Team came out on top of 210 registered collegiate teams from both the United States and Canada who entered the regional competition this year. Mines is a member of the North Central Region of the ICPC which includes schools from South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, western Michigan, western Ontario, and Manitoba. Besides taking home first place in the regional competition, other Mines’ teams placed 33rd, 43rd, 57th and 77th.

This marks the fourth year in a row and the ninth programming team in Mines history to qualify for the highest level of competitive collegiate computer programming in the world.

“The student teams have been working very hard this year to prepare for the competition and we are very proud that they were able to win the regional against a very competitive field,” says Kyle Riley who leads the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Mines.  “Our teams consistently outperform teams from much larger universities which is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the students,” said Paul Hinker, one of the faculty advisors for the team.

The Mines Red Team also has an advantage in the experience of Videckis and Iverson, who each return to the world finals for a second time. Iverson also represented Mines in the 2017 competition and Videckis in the 2018 competition.

The coaches for this team include Mines graduate students Matthew Schallenkamp and Andrew Stelter, who competed at the 2018 world finals in Beijing, China, along with faculty advisors Paul Hinker and Roger Schrader. In addition, Larry Pyeatt served as assistant judge for the regionals, and will be a coach, along with Schallenkamp and Stelter, for the finals.

The programming team has been supported in the past by Microsoft and Raven Industries.

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About South Dakota Mines  

Founded in 1885, South Dakota Mines is one of the nation’s leading engineering, science and technology universities. South Dakota Mines offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees and a best-in-class education at an affordable price. The university enrolls 2,493 students with an average class size of 24. The South Dakota Mines placement rate for graduates is 97 percent, with an average starting salary of more than $68,685. For these reasons  South Dakota Mines is ranked among the best engineering schools in the country for return on investment. Find us online at www.sdsmt.edu and on FacebookTwitter, LinkedInInstagram, and Snapchat.

Contact: Charles Michael Ray, 605-394-6082, Charles.Ray@sdsmt.edu

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