BYU Info Systems Students Win Big at National Comp

From L to R: Reed Olsen, Dave Wilson, Robert Mount,
Devin Collier, Landon Cope and Bryce Clark stand
with the awards they won at the competition.PROVO, Utah – Jun 24, 2009 – Brigham Young University information systems students reeled in eight awards this spring with their problem-solving strategies and technological expertise at the National Collegiate Conference for the Association for Information Technology Professionals in Oklahoma City.

Competing against 61 other universities, some with more than 20 student entrants, the six BYU seniors held their own, leaving with more awards than any other school. The two-man teams won: first and second place in the business intelligence competition; second place in the office solutions competition; third place and honorable mention in the system analysis and design competition; third place and honorable mention in the java competition; and third place in the application development competition.

"Our core experience really preps BYU students for high-pressure, quick-turn-around competitions," says Craig Lindstrom, assistant professor of information systems and adviser for the competition. "The depth of the subject material taught in information systems courses helped them do well."

Students who competed were Bryce Clark, from Calgary, Alberta; Landon Cope, from Tucson, Ariz.; Devin Collier, from Provo; Robert Mount, from Provo; Reed Olsen, from Weston, Mass.; and Dave Wilson, from Highland, Utah.

While most teams only registered for two to three competitions, BYU's teams signed up for all six time slots. This schedule made the competition even more rigorous with some students spending as many as 13 hours competing in a single day.

"The entire competition was a test of mental endurance," says Olsen. "After eight hours of competing, I could hardly think straight. However, we just pushed through for the remaining five hours of the contests and it paid off."

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems and entrepreneurship. The school's mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School's graduate and undergraduate programs.