The regional competition of an international contest nicknamed "the battle of the brains" comes to Shippensburg University Nov. 7.

Dr. Carol Wellington, professor of computer science and coach of the SU teams, said the university has hosted the regional competition of the International Collegiate Programming Contest before, and in 2003 the SU team qualified for the world finals in Prague in the Czech Republic. "It's like the Olympics," she said.

Teams representing SU, Dickinson College, Gettysburg College, Lebanon Valley College, Millersville University, Moravian College, Penn State Harrisburg and West Virginia University will battle one another in the regional contest of the 34th annual Association for Computing Machinery competition. Contest sponsor is IBM.

In the competition, teams of three students use programming skills and mental endurance to solve complex, real world problems under a five-hour deadline. The team that solves the most problems correctly in the least amount of time advances to the world finals in Harbin, China Feb. 1 to 5, 2010.

One hundred teams from regional contests worldwide will advance. Last year, more than 7,100 teams representing more than 1,800 universities from 88 countries competed in the regional contests.

"There are eight problems and each is assigned a color," Wellington said. "As the problem is solved, the team gets a colored balloon." She said she hope SU places in the top 20 this year.

Danielle Leonard, a sophomore computer science major from Pasadena, Md., was a "runner" last year, taking paper and balloons to competing teams. This year she's competing in the contest, which takes place in computer labs with what Leonard described as "a lot of whispering." She said competitors practice online and the programming club meets twice a week to tackle practice problems.

Logan Kennedy, a senior computer science major from York and member of one of four SU teams competing in the regionals, said the only home-field advantage she expects is "maybe not having to get up as early" as other competitors. One thing Kennedy enjoys about the competitions is the pressure. Another is sharing the experience with others. "Very rarely do you get a group of people in the room who all share this much enthusiasm for computer programming," she said, adding that it's also prime time for "computer joke after computer joke."

Emily Bruckart, a sophomore computer science major from Chambersburg and a competitor, said bragging rights are up for grabs, but the contest is also "a way of learning new skills quickly" even before they are covered in her programming class. She also enjoys the camaraderie that comes with competing on a team.

As with any competitor, these team members admit to having their own competition-day rituals. Kennedy wears a shirt from the previous competition and she said the SU team is known for making an entrance wearing its team jackets. Bruckart said she doesn't have her jacket yet, but she will be wearing her lucky socks.