10/5/2009 Tom Hord
Written by Tom Hord
Conference is now underway! Follow the happenings on Twitter at twitter.com/acmreflections, or hashtag #rp2009!
The Siebel Center at the University of Illinois will soon be abuzz with hundreds of computer science students from across the country as the Association for Computing Machinery hosts its 15th annual computing conference on October 16th.
Reflections | Projections seeks to enlighten, challenge, and support students with talks from distinguished leaders in both industry and academia, a competitive in-house programming competition, and a job fair to connect the present and future innovators in the field of computer science.
While the presentations on programming languages like Python, Javascript, Zimbu, and products like Google Chrome and the Palm webOS are no surprise, a few speakers this year will be presenting some more unorthodox topics. These include trends in communications design, internet comics, journalism, guiding talks about life after college, and even the practical applications of Japanese origami - adding a diverse and exciting edge to this year’s conference.
For MechMania XV, teams of three will be pitted against each other to duke it out for programming superiority. After eighteen hours of preparation in the lab, teams will compete in a double-elimination tournament until only one is left standing. Student teams will battle it out for monetary prizes of $375, $225, and $150 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places respectively; interested corporate teams will be granted a separate opportunity to assert their own dominance on the battlefield.
The conference will also include a job fair, where students will have the opportunity to network with representatives from some of today’s leading companies in technology and communications, including Bungie, Facebook, GE, Intel, Limewire, Microsoft, and more.
For registration or additional information about Reflections | Projections 2009, please visit: www.acm.uiuc.edu/conference.