Arlington, VA—March 15, 2016—Innovative Defense Technologies (IDT), provider of automated solutions for complex systems, announces the winners of its annual High School Programming Contest. This year, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) of Alexandria, VA placed first; Oakton High School (Oakton, VA) came in second; and Poolesville High School (Poolesville, MD) finished third.
IDT’s annual student competition focuses on innovative methods of implementing automated software testing while solving a proposed problem. This year, students created solutions to enable customers to track package deliveries via GPS. The problem was released in December and team solutions were due on February 12. Final submissions were reviewed by IDT judges and the top three teams presented their solutions on Saturday, March 12, 2016, at the Virginia Tech Research Center in Arlington, VA.
Each team’s package tracking solution had to incorporate GPS data, altitude information, maps of locations, distances and package arrival times. As always, the proposed problem was very complex and offered students the opportunity to work through the entire software development lifecycle—from requirements to delivery. A record number of 20 local high schools initially took on the challenge; ten teams actually submitted solutions.
According to the contest organizer Thom Garrett, “The quality of this year’s contest submissions, not just the top three, was exceptional. It was evident that participants spent a lot of time developing their solutions.”
The first place team of three students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) included Eric Wang, Larry Wang and Charles Zhao. They were coached by Nicole Kim. The second place team from Oakton High School, coached by Edmund Lau, included Youngli Hong, Jarette Lee, Krishna Sannasi, and Angela Xu. The Poolesville High School team, coached by Mark Estep, consisted of Cindy Chen, Parth Oza, Jagan Prem, and Kevin Shen.
Honorable mention went to two teams that turned in very strong performances but did not make the top three: Washington and Lee High School (Arlington, VA) and Walt Whitman High School (Bethesda, MD).
“The contest problems we create are modeled on real challenges and provide students with hands-on experience in delivering software,” said Seth Watts of IDT, “The problem this year involved concepts such as RESTful web services, data management, data presentation, and algorithms. Ultimately the teams developed fully functioning package tracking applications similar to ones you might see from USPS, UPS, or FedEx. We were impressed by the quality of the solutions presented by the winning teams.”
The top three teams earned cash awards for the Computer Science departments or clubs at their high schools, as well as electronic devices and T-shirts for their participation.
IDT’s annual programming contest is open to high school students in Virginia, Maryland, and DC. It is run by IDT employees for the benefit of students in the local community. For more information about future contests, visit IDT’s Contest webpage. Additional photos from the event will be posted on IDT’s Facebook page.
About IDT:
Innovative Defense Technologies (IDT) is an Arlington, Virginia based provider of automated solutions for the Department of Defense and commercial customers. IDT is using a patented methodology, Automated Test and ReTest (ATRT), to change the way software is developed, tested, and analyzed. The company’s solutions ensure the rapid delivery of capability to the warfighter. IDT was founded in 2006 and has additional offices in CA, MA, and NJ. For more information: www.IDTus.com.
Media Contact:
Janice Voth
4401 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22203
703.822.7870