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ACM President Lauds Competitors, Cites Advantages of Preparing Students to Compete Globally: The results of the 2007 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM ICPC) indicate the continuing strength of global competition for the best computer programmers in the world. The top five winners were Warsaw University (Poland), Tsinghua University (China), St. Petersburg University of IT, Mechanics and Optics (Russia), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (U.S.), and Novosibirsk State University (Russia). This international competition, now in its 31st year, is hosted by ACM (the Association for Computing Machinery), a society of more than 83,000 computing educators, researchers, and professionals worldwide. The international competition took place this week in Tokyo, Japan, with 88 teams competing in the final round. Earlier rounds of the competition featured more than 6,000 teams representing 1,765 universities from 82 countries. The only U.S. university to finish in the top 10 was MIT, which placed 4th. Other top finishers from the U.S. were California Institute of Technology, at number 12, and the University of Texas at Dallas, which was tied for 14th place with 12 other schools. Full results are available at its Web site. ACM President Stuart Feldman pointed to the superior problem-solving abilities demonstrated throughout the competition from teams across the globe. “The competition at the ACM ICPC World Finals is incredible. The contestants must attack a wide variety of problems, and the top 15 teams are all performing at a level that exceeds what it took to win the contest only 10 years ago,” he said. “This contest is a concrete indicator of talent and future possibility. Students like these are tomorrow’s top prospects in the information technology and computing fields,” said Feldman, who is also vice president, Computer Science Research, at IBM’s T. J. Watson Research Center. “With the growing worldwide demand for technology skills, companies large and small – including IBM - will be tapping today’s winners as future employees.” As the technology industry seeks to strengthen computing education and fill the talent pipeline for future workers, the winners in Tokyo provide valuable lessons. “A workforce well-trained in the fundamentals of computing represents an incredible advantage for any country that wants to compete globally in almost any industry. Bringing the best and the brightest into computing and computer science is a great strategy for any country that hopes to succeed in the future. Almost every major challenge facing our world calls upon computing for a solution, from fighting disease to protecting the environment to improving education,” Feldman said. In the U.S., ACM has recently launched efforts to help high school students, teachers, and parents better understand the kinds of careers enabled by studying computer science. For example, “Computing Degrees & Careers” is a concise brochure detailing expanding job opportunities for students with computing degrees. The brochure is accessible in PDF format from the ACM Web site at its Web site .