The Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium (MICS) completed their annual conference on March 28th on the campus of University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire. The most popular activity is a team-based programming competition operating under the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) guidelines. The contest fosters creativity, teamwork, and innovation in building new software programs, and enables students to test their ability to perform under pressure. For the three-hour competition, students are given 9 challenging programming assignments. At the end of the three hours, the teams are ranked according to the number of programs completed correctly.
This year, there were 27 teams competing from numerous universities in the region. A Saint Mary’s team consisting of Lucas Heindel, Luke Rickert and Joseph Hakanson finished in 1st place and was the only team to complete 5 problems correctly. Saint Mary’s entered a second team consisting of Brandt Knoik, Broderic Peterman and Seth Bestgen that also did well in the competition. Faculty members Dr. Donald Heier and MM Bari attended the conference with the students.
The MICS regional conference is dedicated to providing an educational experience to students and instructors at higher education institutions. The conference focuses on the teaching of computing and its use in all disciplines and the incorporation of the study of this technology in the curriculum. Activities include the presentation of technical papers and posters, as well as programming and robotics competitions. Participants typically come from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
The computer science major at Saint Mary’s consists of four tracks: Software Engineering; Cybersecurity Engineering; Management Information Systems and Data Analytics. All courses place strong emphasis on developing students’ problem-solving abilities by engaging them in hands-on, real-world challenges that require critical thinking and creativity. Through project-based learning, collaborative assignments, and participation in events such as programming competitions, students are encouraged to analyze complex problems, break them down into manageable components, and design effective solutions.
In addition to fostering problem-solving skills, the computer science program is committed to teaching students the latest technologies and ensuring they stay current with modern tools and industry practices. Courses are continuously updated to include emerging programming languages, frameworks, and development methodologies, while students gain experience with tools widely used in industry. The program prepares students to adapt quickly in a rapidly evolving field and equips them with the practical skills needed to succeed in today’s technology-driven world.
Next year the MICS conference is at UW La Crosse. Program faculty are already preparing to send teams to the programming, robotics and a potential cybersecurity competition along with some paper presentations based on capstone projects.
