Junior named best collegiate programmer
David Arthur, a junior from Toronto, Canada, won last weekend's 2003 Sun Microsystems and TopCoder Collegiate Challenge, beating out 15 of the world's best Java and C++ programmers for a $50,000 grand prize and the claim of the world's best college programmer.
"What a great feeling this is to be able to compete against the best programmers in the world. I really didn't think I had much of a chance against these other guys," Arthur said in a statement.
Arthur, a double major in computer science and mathematics, entered the tournament semifinals Friday as the Southeast Regional champion. He was also the No. 1 seed in that region for this tournament. Coming into this weekend, his total prize money from TopCoder was just over $16,000. He won the majority of his TopCoder winnings last fall when he finished in third place in the 2002 TopCoder Invitational.
Another of the 16 semifinalists was from Duke--computer science graduate student Ke "Kevin" Yi. He and Arthur were the two representatives from the southeastern U.S. region.
New CSC directors announced
The new student co-directors of the Community Service Center for the academic year 2003-2004 were announced Tuesday. They are juniors Heidi Schumacher and Tori Hogan.
President's House to honor 5th Duke president
Duke University's President's House will be renamed the Douglas M. and Grace Knight House Friday to honor the achievements of Duke's fifth president.
Douglas Knight was the first Duke president to live in the President's House, which was completed in September 1966 under the direction of architect Alden Dow, who interned under Frank Lloyd Wright. The house, less than a mile from campus at 1508 Pinecrest Rd., has been used as a family home and to entertain official guests of the University.
Knight, Duke's president from 1963 to 1969, and his wife chose Dow as the architect and worked "as a team" to help design the house. Knight said he and his wife are thrilled to be honored in this way.
Organ donor day set for next week
Education on Organ Donation, a Duke student organization, will be staging the first annual Duke Donates LIFE donor day on West Campus at noon Friday, April 18.
Duke Donates LIFE is committed to educating members of the Duke and Durham communities about the benefits of organ donation and being a card-carrying donor, and in the process, dispelling myths and concerns regarding donation.
The day's festivities will include various speakers, including transplant donors and recipients and representatives from Carolina Donor Services and the Medical Center.
Duke Donates LIFE corresponds with national Donates LIFE month.
The event will take place in front of House P and will last from noon until 4 p.m.
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