CIS Photo Gallery

SBU Repeats as 2008 Programming Contest Champs!

In what can only be called a fitting end to a banner year, SBU CIS students swept the top two spots at the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC) regional programming contest on April 5th. The event was held at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and featured nineteen teams from eight universities.

“Our A team had three seniors, and this was the last competition of their college career for two of them. I know their heart’s desire was to go out with a bang—I think they did that and more” said Dr. Tim DeClue, Chair of the SBU CIS Department.

SBU’s veteran A team, consisting of Adam Carney (SR, Weableau, MO), Nate Sisk (SR, Sikeston, MO), and Michael Van DeVender (SR, Nixa, MO), won the competition by a wide margin effectively doubling the output of the second place team, also from SBU, by submitting correct solutions to four problems during the competition. SBU’s B team, consisting of Andrew Cook (SO, Kansas City, MO), Jacob Williams (SO, Hume, MO), and JR Smith (SR, Westphalia, KS) solved two problems successfully in 58 minutes. The third place University of Central Missouri team also solved two problems, but could only manage their feat over an hour after the SBU second-place team was done. Competing on SBU’s C team and finishing in 12th place in the field of 19 teams was Blayne Riffle (FR, Bolivar, MO), Natalie Schroeder (FR, Topeka, KS), Christopher Stuckey (SO, Kansas City, MO). Coaches for all three teams consisted of CIS faculty Jim Cain, Jeff Kimball, and DeClue.

“We’re going to miss this group of seniors—they are really a top-notch group—but we’ve got some great freshmen, and some sophomores and juniors who have been waiting for quite a while for their chance to shine on the victory stand for SBU. Plus, our incoming freshmen look very strong—they’ll be ready in a couple of years too. God has been good to us, and we are going to continue to rely on His good will for the Department” added DeClue.

The 15th Annual meeting of the CCSC-Central Plains region will be held April 3 and 4 on the campus of Southwest Baptist University. The programming contest will take place on the afternoon of April 4, 2009.

COMPLETE RESULTS

Place	Team	Problems Solved	Time
1	SOUTHWEST BAPTIST UNIVERSITY-A	4	472
2	SOUTHWEST BAPTIST UNIVERSITY-B	2	58
3	University of Central Missouri – A	2	154
4	Northwest Missouri State University – A	2	181
5	College of the Ozarks – B	2	215
6	Westminster College – A	2	339
7	College of the Ozarks – A	2	380
8	Drury University	2	420
9	University of Central Missouri – C	1	173
10	University of Central Missouri – B	1	215
11	University of Missouri-Kansas City - A	1	215
12	SOUTHWEST BAPTIST UNIVERSITY – C	1	247

SBU team captures nine top-ten finishes – most awards by any university in attendance

SBU Computer and Information Sciences students experienced an award-soaked weekend at the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) National Collegiate Conference (NCC). At the conference, which was held at the historic Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, Southwest Baptist University students were called to the stage in front over 800 attendees nine times to accept trophies and awards acknowledging a top-ten national finish in some area of computing. Included in the awards were three honorable mentions, five third place trophies and a second place trophy in Application Development. As a school, SBU was the top award-winner at the national conference with Purdue University finishing a not-so-close second in the award-count with six. Locally, Missouri Western State University claimed two awards, with Missouri State University and Pittsburg State University each claiming one award apiece.

All of the categories included some tough competition, but Application Development was perhaps the most sought after award at the conference because it most clearly demonstrated quality in software engineering—exactly what the SBU CIS Department is known for. According to Dr. Tim DeClue, Chair of the CIS Department, the application development problem was difficult, big, ill-defined and challenging. “Each team had to complete a problem solution in four hours. Included in the solution was a command-line script, a web application, a graphical user interface, and database connectivity. And we’re not talking theory or ivory towers here…it all has to work.”

"This is an incredible accomplishment for our students," continued DeClue, "When you look at the schools we were competing against, you begin to understand the special place that SBU has become. How many other schools our size with a purposefully Christian mission have students who can say what our’s can -- that the peer institutions are among the most well-known on a national level.”

Attending the AITP National Collegiate Conference were Meilani Williams (SR, Leavenworth, KS), Justin West (SR, Blue Springs, MO), Nathaniel Colt (SR, Bolivar, MO), Rick Barnhouse (SR, Bolivar, MO), Jeremiah Smith (SR, Westphalia, KS), AJ Brewer (SR, Chariton, IA), Nate Sisk (SR, Sikeston, MO), Adam Carney (SR, Weableau, MO), Rich Schoenrock (SR, Waynesville, MO), Michael VanDevender (SR, Nixa, MO), Ben Brundage (SR, Lucerne, MO), Justin Sheets (SR, St. Louis, MO).

2007

SBU Breaks into Regional Elite Top-Ten at IBM-sponsored “Battle of the Brains”

SBU’s top competitive programming team coded their way for the first time into the elite top ten at the IBM-sponsored Mid-Central Region “Battle of the Brains” on Saturday. SBU’s B team also reached the top 25 in a field of 119 teams from Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The contest, which allows universities with graduate programs to compete with their graduate students, is known as the toughest and most respected academic competition for computer science students in the world. SBU was the top-ranked Christian school in the Mid-Central region, and the top school of any kind without a graduate program in computer science.

“This was an amazing day for our teams, an amazing day for our department, and an amazing day for SBU,” said Dr. Tim DeClue, Chair of the SBU Computer and Information Sciences Department. “When you look at the other schools in the top ten you realize the kind of achievement this is. The other nine schools all have graduate programs in computer science, and average over 12,000 students apiece. This is like David and Goliath.”

Southwest Baptist’s A team consisted Adam Carney (SR, Weableau, MO), Nathan Sisk (SR, Sikeston, MO), and Michael Van Devender (Nixa, MO). Southwest Baptist University’s B team consisted of Jeremiah Smith (SR, Westphalia, KS), Jacob Williams (SO, Hume, MO), and Andrew Cook (SO, Blue Springs, MO). SBU’s C team included Andy Fulton (SO, Salem, MO), Tim Heimsoth (JR, Cole Camp, MO), and Josh Wood (JR, Eldon, MO). Blayne Riffle (FR, Bolivar, MO) and Natalie Schroeder (FR, Goddard, KS) served as alternates for the teams. Coaches were Professor Jim Cain and Professor Jeff Kimball.

Top 25 of 119 Teams in Midcentral Region (MO, AR, IL, TN, KY)

1.     Northwestern University–A
2.     Illinois State University-A
3.     Vanderbilt University-A
4.    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign–A
5.    University of Arkansas–A
6.   Washington University-A
7.   University of Kentucky-A
8.   University of Chicago-A
9.   Illinois Institute of Technology-A
10. SOUTHWEST BAPTIST UNIVERSITY–A
11. Hendrix University–A
12. Washington University-B
13. Missouri State University-A
14. Saint Louis University–A
15. University of Chicago-B
16.  Tennessee Tech-A
17. Loyola University-A
18. Vanderbilt-B
19.  University of Illinois-Chicago-A
20. University of Kentucky-B
21. University of Evansville-A
22.  Webster University-A
23. SOUTHWEST BAPTIST UNIVERSITY-B
24. Northern Kentucky University-A
25. Southern Arkansas University-A

Other universities of local interest included the University of Missouri-Rolla (41st), College of the Ozarks (45th), the University of Central Missouri (60th), Drury University (92nd), Missouri Western University (97th), and Northwest Missouri State University (106th).

COBACS Picnic

ACM Meeting

AITP 2007

SBU Computer and Information Sciences students Megan Burnett (JR, Barnett, VT), Michael VanDevender (JR, Nixa, MO), Scott McFall (SR, Topeka, KS), and Nathan Sisk (JR, Sikeston, MO) held off some stiff national competition in a field of 48 teams to finish in second place in the Application Development category of the 2007 Association for Information Technology (AITP) National Collegiate Conference held in Detroit, Michigan over the weekend. McFall and VanDevender also teamed up to finish in the top six out of a field of 52 teams in the Database Design competition. Kurt Paulson (SR, Urbandale, IA) finished in the top nine in the Undergraduate Research Paper competition.

“I had spoken with the judge of the Application Development competition after judging was completed,” said Dr. Tim DeClue, Chair of the CIS Department and team sponsor. “He told me the top two teams were well above the others and had completed all three sections of the problem. When I spoke with our team, though, they said they’d not completed the third part. I assumed then we would not be in the top two.

When the awards were handed out and we didn’t get anything up through third place, I thought we were out of it. Then we heard ‘SBU’ and everyone started yelling. It was a pretty exciting moment for the team and I was extremely proud of their finish.” "This is an incredible accomplishment for our students," said DeClue, "When you look at the schools we were competing against, you begin to understand the special place that SBU has become. How many other schools our size with a purposefully Christian mission have students who can say what our kids can -- that the peer institutions are among the most well-known on a national level.”

Attending the AITP National Collegiate Conference along with Burnett, VanDevender, McFall, Sisk, and Paulson were Justin West (JR, Blue Springs, MO), Meilani Williams (JR, Leavenworth, KS), Peggy Walden (SR, Indianapolis, MO) and Stefan Arndt (SR, Vandalia, IL).

2006

Disinfection Day 2006

Disinfection day, which occurred on Saturday, October 21st from 9:00AM to 1:00PM at Taylor Hall, was a tremendous success this year. Approximately 23 computers were disinfected and then inoculated against further infection in the four hour event. The SBU Student Chapter of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) organized and sponsored the event. Participating students included Keith Kelly, Justin West, Ryan Reider, Elizabeth Lackey, Nathan Mersch, Christopher Stuckey, J.R. Smith, Kellie Lyon, Kurt Paulson, Scott McFall, Meilani Williams, Justin West, Kate Roller, and A.J. Brewer.