IBM,KTH-Royal Institute of Technology, and the ICPC did a fantastic job of sharing the Battle of the Brains event with the world. Here are few clips from the worldwide media worth checking out:
Have a story you’d like to share? Please feel free to post a link to the comments section! And, of course, we look forward to seeing everyone again in Harbin, China for the 2010 Battle of the Brains World Finals! In the meantime, see you at the Regionals!
The 2009 World Finals was a terrific showcase of talent, creativity and passion. So many bright young minds in one room demonstrating their amazing abilities is a terrific experience.
Here are the important links for those who don’t know them already:
With seven days left until the World Finals, Dr. Bill Poucher takes a moment to speak with IBM host Amanda Carl. With more schools and students participating than ever, the stakes are high and the competition fierce. The Regionals saw 1,838 universities from 88 countries battle for a spot at World Finals. With only 100 teams headed to Stockholm, Dr. Poucher assures our listeners that the students have practiced in full force and are ready to tackle the world’s challenges and begin charging toward a Smarter Planet.
Award-winning technology guru and leader in the field of Autonomic Computing, Alan Ganek, chief technology Officer and vice president for IBM Software strategy and technology, is our guest today.
Speaking with ICPC podcast host Amanda Carl, Ganek discusses his day-to-day responsibilities at IBM, as well as how he defines business leadership in the IT industry. He also shares valuable advice for the next generation of engineers, including tips on how to prepare for the needs of an ever-demanding global community.
An IBM Veteran, Ganek has more than 16 patents to his name and has been presented with a Technical Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and an Outstanding Innovation award from IBM on behalf of his work on Enterprise Systems Architecture/370 and System/390 Parallel Sysplex Design.
IBM special guest host, Jim Angstadt, sat down with Adam Gashlin, 2007 ICPC Rutgers World Finals team member and current IBM employee. He carved out a few minutes from his busy schedule to talk about his experience at the 2007 World Finals, offer tips for this year’s class and share how he came to work for IBM from Extreme Blue internto full-time employee.
Doug Heintzman, IBM’s director for business strategy and sponsorship executive for the ACM-ICPC, talked about a few of the most cared about topics by university students and their parents regarding the Battle of the Brains.
He focused on:
How business issues are closely related to students in computer science and mathematics
How the planet faces daunting infrastructure challenges and what the next generation of problem solvers need to know
What skills and capabilities will be employed in the future job market and how it will shape everyday society
How to find tremendous career opportunities from growing customer demand for impactful software services such as cloud computing and clever industry solutions
And, how to use the ACM-ICPC as a world-recognized qualification to prepare for the job market
Looking ahead to Sweden, Doug discussed an IBM traffic management project undertaken for Stockholm as an example of showing students how technology skills apply to societal issues.
Doug also pointed out that today’s generation of problem solvers are emerging from many more countries and not from just a select few. In the 2009 World Finals, he names new participation from countries such as Bangladesh, India, Great Britain, France, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand to complement World Finals regulars like Russia, China, United States, Canada and others.
As many of us know, Doug Heintzman, Director of Strategy, IBM Software Group, is also the ACM-ICPC Sponsorship Executive of IBM. He enjoys the competition and meeting so many gifted students.
A long time advocate of social software and business collaboration initiatives, Doug spoke about the trend of information technology and software service when he attended January’s LotuSphere 2009, the industry’s largest business and social software development event.
In an interview on-site, Doug discussed the global enthusiasm for the ACM-ICPC, meeting the talent of the future and what the ICPC means for them.
President Barack Obama met with IBM CEO Sam Palmisano and a dozen other CEOs at the White House last week to discuss the economic stimulus package for the United States.
If you want to know how the World Finals relates to the real world, watch or read Mr. Palmisano’s remarks. His thoughts could be speaking to you.
Before the official swearing for President Obama, Mr. Palmisano discussed with CNN IT infrastructure and smart solutions.
Smarter Planet philosophy. Green IT. Cloud Computing. Jobs. IBM’s Mark Guan covered a whole slew of topics with Katharine Frase, Vice President of Technical and Business Strategy, IBM Software Group. She discussed what new technologies leading conversations within IBM and offered insight into the kinds of questions students should prepare to answer when hitting the job interview circuit.
Looking ahead, our next podcast is slated for the first half of February when we will be talking with Doug Heintzman, Director of Strategy, IBM Software Group. If you have a question you’d like Doug to answer, post a comment.
As always, continue working hard as you prepare for the World Finals. Success comes with practice!
Happy New Year! By you’re probably need deep in preparations for the World Finals. Following the ACM-ICPC web site, the roster of finalists is just about complete.
Hopefully, those of you who didn’t make the World Finals round will hit the Regionals again next year, if you’re eligible.
For those of you who made it, CONGRATULATIONS. It’s a tremendous accomplishment. Regionals round is meant to sift through and find the teams that work the best together combining skills, creativity and smarts.
We plan to have another podcast interview posted in the next couple weeks. So, stay tuned.
Looking ahead, IBM plans to, once again, reach out to schools of World Finalists to make sure each knows of your great achievement. Please help us spread the word.
