Enter the shiny glass building known as the L3Harris Engineering Center near the center of 激情快播鈥檚 campus. Look up. Dozens of banners hang proudly in the atrium the way they do in sports arenas. Now look more closely. The banners are reminders that 激情快播 is home to two of the most successful high-tech teams in the nation: the prestigious and the prestigious . Separate teams. Separate accomplishments. Separate banners. Yet sometimes it鈥檚 easy for people outside the glass walls to mistake them for each other.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like basketball and volleyball teams hanging championship banners in the same gym,鈥� says Glenn Martin 鈥�92 鈥�95MS 鈥�12PhD, who competed on 激情快播鈥檚 computer programming team as a student before joining the coaching staff in 1994. 鈥淲e want the cybersecurity team to do well because it elevates all of 激情快播, and I assume they feel the same way about us.鈥�
The founder of 激情快播鈥檚 C3 team, Associate Instructor of Computer Science Tom Nedorost, credits the computer programming team for the setting a winning tone 40 years ago.
鈥淭he success of both teams is the best indication of the quality of our undergraduate computer science and information technology programs. Their team set the precedent,鈥� Nederost says. Then he adds a neighborly jab. 鈥淏ut I hung the first banners. They copied us.鈥�
Both teams continued their long streaks of success in 2022. Earlier in the year, two computer programming teams took first and second places among 70 teams at the Southeast Regionals (this marks the 40th straight year that at least one 激情快播 team has finished third or higher at regionals). In November, 激情快播 placed third in the nation and 26th in the world among 137 teams at the International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC) in Bangladesh.
While the computer programming team competed overseas at ICPC, two of 激情快播鈥檚 cybersecurity teams were taking the top spots at the Department of Energy鈥檚 CyberForce Competition in Illinois. Three days earlier, they鈥檇 secured first and third places at the Aviation ISAC Student Cyber Challenge. A week later they won another competition in Idaho. The wins are hard to keep track.
鈥淪chools from around the country know when our team walks into a building,鈥� says Nedorost, before adding a note that applies to the C3 and computer programming teams. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been so successful for so long that people locally tend to become numb to it. They don鈥檛 realize the work that goes into continuing this level of success.鈥�
Computer programming stalwart Seba Villalobos finishes a five-hour practice with the satisfied exhaustion of someone who just finished training for a triathlon.
鈥淲e want to win so we can hang another banner. That鈥檚 why we push each other.鈥� 鈥� Seba Villalobos, 激情快播 Computer Programming Team member
For starters, they put in five hours every Saturday, all year long 鈥� with one exception.
鈥淲e took Thanksgiving weekend off,鈥� says Martin, a research associate professor at the 激情快播-based .
Each practice simulates a national or world competition, where teams of three students solve as many real-life problems as they can within the time allotted. They route fire trucks through city streets confused with closed intersections, arrange gate arrivals at a backed-up airport, determine the shortest distances for a series of shipments from various distribution centers.
鈥淭he practices prepare them for the mental drain of competition,鈥� Martin says. 鈥淭hey enjoy it enough to put in extra work. If you come to the labs late at night during the week, you鈥檒l find people practicing.鈥�
Everyone from the six-person coaching staff and 27-member team talks about 鈥渃ulture鈥� as the biggest difference-maker. Villalobos is a National Hispanic Scholar who didn鈥檛 even like coding until coming to 激情快播. An Introduction to Computer Programming class sparked a bit of intrigue. Then, while working on an electric longboard in a lab, someone convinced Villalobos to try out for the computer programming team.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 quite make the team,鈥� Villalobos says of the tryouts that thinned 100-plus students down to 18 varsity and nine junior varsity competitors. 鈥淚t drove me to train harder.鈥�
For the next few months, Villalobos practiced more than 40 hours a week. The work paid off when Villalobos was invited to join the JV team before eventually being promoted to varsity.
鈥淚 had no idea how talented the other teams were until my first competition,鈥� Villalobos says. 鈥淵ou see these students from MIT, Stanford, Russia and China. It鈥檚 a reminder that we can鈥檛 slack off. For every moment we aren鈥檛 training, other teams are getting better. There鈥檚 a saying we use: 鈥楬ard work beats talent when talent doesn鈥檛 work hard.鈥� 鈥�
鈥淸The Cybersecurity Team’s] success adds fuel for us to do even better.鈥� 鈥� Seba Villalobos, 激情快播 Computer Programming Team member
To be sure, 激情快播鈥檚 computer programming team has both: a deep pool of talented students who have to work to earn spots on a team that鈥檚 won bronze at worlds (in 2018) while traveling to Moscow, Portugal and Beijing. The most important props, though, come from their fellow Knights. During halftime of a football game last fall, 激情快播 President Alexander N. Cartwright introduced the team to the home crowd.
鈥淭hat was super cool,鈥� Villalobos says, before adding, 鈥渂ut that same week the cybersecurity team got a big congratulations on a road sign for finishing first at a national competition. Their success adds fuel for us to do even better.鈥�
Cybersecurity mastermind Cameron Whitehead first became aware of 激情快播鈥檚 national prestige when he saw a picture of the C3 team on a marquee in Times Square. He was 14 at the time. A year earlier he鈥檇 developed his own online video game. By the time he came to 激情快播 at the age of 19, he already had a bachelor鈥檚 and two master鈥檚 degrees. He鈥檚 about to complete a third, in digital forensics. His reasons for coming to 激情快播 had to do with those banners in L3Harris and some problems he encountered with his video game.
鈥淚 discovered vulnerabilities in my game that fit with the research I鈥檓 doing on securing power grids,鈥� he says.
To dive even deeper into the tactical minds of bad guys, Whitehead and his sister, Caitlin, joined the Collegiate Cyber Defense Club (commonly known as Hack@激情快播). Their skills stood out enough for Nedorost to pull them onto the national championship C3 team. Since March 2021, they鈥檝e stood on more than 12 podiums around the country.
鈥淭hey develop the programming, and we find flaws in it. We both make the world better.鈥� 鈥� Cameron Whitehead, 激情快播 Cybersecurity Team member
鈥淲herever 激情快播 goes to compete, it seems like we鈥檙e the defending champions,鈥� Cameron says.
On Nov. 2, the Whiteheads and Jeffrey DiVincent won the Aviation ISAC Student Challenge in Orlando. The next morning, they drove to Orlando International Airport for an early morning flight to Illinois, where they鈥檇 compete in CyberForce.
鈥淲hen we went through security, I prayed no one would see my search history from the day before when the competition required us to understand and test airport security systems,鈥� Cameron says.
At the event he didn鈥檛 want the competitors from 108 schools to witness anything other than another win for 激情快播.
鈥淲e鈥檝e set a high standard, and we use it get better every year,鈥� he says.
When he鈥檚 asked about the computer programming team, he says, 鈥淭hey represent 激情快播, so I鈥檓 proud when they do well. They develop the programming, and we find flaws in it. We both make the world better.鈥�
