Doug Heintzman, Director of Strategy for IBM Software Group and Sponsorship Executive of the ICPC took some time to talk with podcast host Amanda Carl about the evolution of the Battle of the Brains. Doug discusses how the competition has increased in size by 800 percent and now reaches 88 countries, including Argentina, Iran, and Cuba since IBM’s involvement. How intense is the competition? Well, Doug answers your questions regarding the types of problems and the rigorous nature of World Finals. He even shares some fun and unique stories from his past visits to World Finals’ events and offers advice for student competitors.

Want to brush up on your problem solving skills? Practice problems are available—so get started on your World Finals preparation!

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.

With Regionals already taking place in Asia and abroad, and the first U.S. regional to begin in October, Alan shares his advice on the best ways to prepare for the competition and a future career in technology.

This year you can also follow us on Twitter, where you will find an open forum of participating students from schools around the world. We expect to kick off the 2009-2010 podcast series in the middle of September by posting an interview with Alan Ganek, chief technology officer and vice president for IBM Software strategy and technology.  Not only is Alan an outstanding scientist with 16 patents, he is the funding executive for the ACM-ICPC.  We’re all very excited to hear Alan’s advice for Regionals preparation and beyond. For those looking for some practice questions, look no further than past brain busters archived on the ICPC web site:

·    2009 World Finals questions

·    2008 World Finals questions

·    2007 World Finals questions

Try out a few of these to get your brain warmed up for the upcoming competition.  Good luck, or hao yun!

Ivan discusses his preparation for the 2006 World Finals and shares valuable advice for the 2009-2010 competitors as preparation for the fall Regionals gradually creeps up.

Ivan was recently quoted in the Moscow Times discussing his experience.

• Washington Post
• Chicagoist
• Computer Review of Russia
• Voice of America Article
• Voice of America Audio
• SaigonNews
• St. Louis Dispatch
• Payvand Iran News
• Science and Technology Daily of China
• Russia’s NTV news network
• President of Russia Congratulatory Message
• IT World Canada
• Polish Newswire
• Science and Technology Daily

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!

Here are the important links for those who don’t know them already:

• Results
• The problem set
• Photos and videos

Keep coming back, we’ll share links to how the international press reported on the event and shared the many stories of the contestants.

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.

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.

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.

Check out what he said:

• Part 1: [8:44 to end]
• Part 2: [0:00 to 2:29]

You’ll hear more from Doug next week with our regular podcast interview. Don’t miss it!

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.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Look for the podcast interview with Doug Heintzman, Director of Strategy, IBM Software Group, next week.

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!

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.

In the meantime, we’ve seen an overwhelming positive response from all the participating colleges and universities praising their students. Here are links to a few, but if your school did the same, we encourage you the post a comment with a link to the article and share your stories!

• CyberSecurity (Russia)
• Melbourne team headed for finals in ‘Battle of the Brains’ software competition
• Engineering students set for ‘Battle of the Brains’
• Let the Best Brain Win
• UCF team wins Battle of the Brains
• Students represent Millersville in ACM Mid-Atlantic regional collegiate programming contest
• UNL team to World Finals in International Collegiate Programming Contest
• Battle of the Brains

With this podcast, guest host Dana Procaccino sat down with IBM veteran Margaret Ashida, Director of Diversity and Workforce Programs, to discuss how the experience of this contest helps prepare students entering the job market as well as presenting the opportunities to showcase skills in front of future employers.

Good luck to those still looking ahead to the Regionals!

On Monday, October 6, IBMer and regular podcast host Mark Guan had the pleasure of hand delivering three IBM laptops to last year’s 2nd place World Finalists and Gold Medal Champions from M.I.T. — Andy Lutomirski, Bohua Zhan and Fernando Xuancheng Shao.

Due to some technical glitches, the audio of our interview was scrambled. But, we wanted to share their story so we transcribed the recording and pasted the text below. They discussed their plans for this year’s Regionals and beyond.

As a bonus for our regular visitors, we found the audio of an interview with the M.I.T. team following their tight wire finish at the World Finals. They spoke with Doug Heintzman, a regular in our podcast series. (see audio link at bottom of posting)

A special ‘thank you’ to Professor Martin Rinard and his assistant Mary McDavitt for their help getting us together with the students.

Enjoy both interviews!

IBM’s Mark Guan: So, Andy, what’s the plan for next year?

Andy: The plan for next year… I’m coaching.

Mark: You’re coaching!

Andy: Well, it depends on your point of view. I’m no t really eligible for this actual contest.

Mark: Good for you. So who will be on the team?

Andy: We don’t really know yet, the final competition will determine that – it was held yesterday.

Mark: So where will the Regionals be held?

Andy: Oh the regional’s, it’s actually the preliminaries first, they’re in-town, it’s very close – I don’t remember exactly where the preliminaries are, I think it’s in Rochester again.

Bohua: So you’re gonna fly there, right?

Mark: Moving from contestant to coach, what do you have to do to qualify – do you have to qualify for a coach?

Andy: No, I sort of got drafted actually. It’s a self-perpetuated group of people so I was just drafted to replace one of the coaches who graduated.

Mark: That’s great… So you getting ready to go to Stockholm?

Andy: I hope so! I think we have a pretty good team to get there.

Mark: Yeah, I’ll see you there. So, recruiting… Fernando, are you gonna stay on the team?

Fernando: Well I would try to stay on the team this year. I think this year there are more people at MIT that want to, the competition is tougher, there are more challenges.

Mark: Yeah, it’s more challenging. Any plans?

Bohua: I’m taking a year off.

Mark: Maybe next year. What year are you now?

Bohua: I’m a sophomore.

Mark: You’re a sophomore. So you still have another couple years to go for. Fernando, what year are you?

Fernando:I’m a senior.

Mark: You’re a senior, so you’re graduating next year. Wow! But Andy… already graduated? Or…

Andy: I’m a grad student. I used up my last year of eligibility.

Mark: What’s your plan – to do some doctorial degrees?

Andy: Yeah, my plan is to get a PHD and move onto other things.

Mark: That’s nice. In computer science?

Andy: No, physics.

Mark: Physics! What are your majors?

Fernando:I’m a double major in computer science and math.

Mark: Computer science… AND math

Bohua: Math and physics.

Mark: So, wow, you’re the only one who does computer science, Fernando.

Fernando:Yeah I’m the only one who has computer science in their major.

Mark: That’s cool – If you move from a master’s degree to doctoral degree, do you guys have any plans – can you think of anything after graduation that you want to do?

Bohua: I think I’m gonna get a PhD in math after I graduate.

Mark: And then, probably you’ll be a teacher or something in the future?

Bohua: It’s possible.

Mark: That’s pretty ambitious, pretty nice. Andy, what do you plan after your doctorate degree?

Andy: That’s a good question, I don’t know yet. Maybe industry, maybe staying on academia, maybe starting a company.

Mark: Sure, starting a company, that’s pretty nice.

Andy: Oh, yeah.

Mark: So I will see you and you in Stockholm.

Fernando: Hopefully you will see me.

Andy: You will definitely see me.

Photo: From left to right Professor Rinard, Bohua Zhan, Andy Lutomirski and Fernando Xuancheng Shao.

As promised, Doug Heintzman, director of strategy, IBM Software Group and IBM’s Sponsorship Executive, spent some time with one of our podcast hosts, Mark Guan, to help get this 33rd year of the competition started.

Doug covered many topics including what teams he expects to reach the finals, what the contest brings to student, what makes the Battle of the Brains unique, and why IBM spends so much time working with students.

Good luck to those students participating in the first 2008 ACM-ICPC Regionals contest tomorrow in the South Pacific.

As a side note, as we build out this Battle of the Brains page, we hope to include more photos and stories to complement the audio podcasts we jump started last year. If you have photos or stories about your team, please send them us.

Stayed tuned for the kick-off to this season’s podcast series. We have an exclusive interview coming with Doug Heintzman, director of strategy, IBM Software Group and sponsorship executive. For those of you who are new to the contest, Doug’s been a very big advocate for IBM’s role in the competition every year and takes a very significant role to work with ACM-ICPC to help it grow.

With this Battle of the Brains page, we hope to include more photos and stories to complement the audio podcasts we jump started last year.

We expect to kick off the 2008-2009 podcast series in the middle of September with an interview with Doug Heintzman, IBM’s Sponsorship Executive. As many of you know, he’s been a big part of this contest for a number of years and has been a passionate advocate.

For those looking for some practice questions, look no further than past brain busters archived on the ICPC web site:

• 2008 World Finals questions
• 2007 World Finals questions