NATCHITOCHES – Computer science concentration and computer information systems students from Northwestern State University recently competed in the 2025 International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) North America South Central Regional at LSU in Baton Rouge.
Competing against more than 250 teams from the South Central, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast Regions, the NSU Daemons solved three complex problems from a set of ten to earn second place in Division II in Louisiana, according to Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dr. Nicholas Richardson, who coaches the Daemons. He said the Daemons were also the first to solve Problem F — one of the contest’s more challenging problems.
Members of the NSU Daemons are Korbin Richard of Pineville, Davyn Johnson of Kinder and Madisyn Rippeon of Sulphur. The Cyber Demons are Justin Dysarz of Sugar Land, Texas, and Matthew Carlin of Sulphur. They are coached by Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems Dr. Jason Powell. Also competing were Shannon Boone of Deville, Natalie Sutton of Bossier City and Masen Starks of Many.
The Daemons is a play on NSU’s Demon mascot, and the background processes running computer systems called daemons.
“The students need to know how to program in C/C++, Python or Java for the contest,” said Richardson, who is the Ellis and Juanita Martinez Coutee Endowed Professor in Mathematics. “In addition to just knowing a computer language they need to be able to think logically and be able to develop an algorithm to solve the problems given. Some problems are simple, while others may require some advanced programming and mathematical knowledge. The NSU Daemons team is currently in our first programming class, so they did quite well solving the three problems with little experience.”
Richardson said the Department of Mathematics has been teaching computer science courses for several years, but the courses were limited to introduction to programming. Last year, several classes were added to create a computer science concentration in mathematics. This is the first year students can enroll in the concentration. Computer science differs from CIS in that computer science requires more mathematics and focuses on how computers operate. CIS focuses on running computers in a business environment.
“Programming takes a lot of practice to become good,” said Richardson. “I can cover most features in a language in three to six months but knowing how to use those features is really the hard part. In a contest like this, students are given about 10 – 15 problems to solve. They must sort through the problems and come up with a solution. Some of these problems are designed to be very difficult to nearly impossible but realizing that they should move to another problem they can do quicker. Having general problems like this will allow students to develop their skills to create algorithms.”
The Cyber Demons team drew its name from the university’s CIS Club, which encourages students to extend their learning beyond the classroom and explore programming, networking and cybersecurity.
The computer information systems (CIS) program offers concentrations in application development, networking and cybersecurity and information management systems. The application development concentration proved pivotal to the team’s success, providing a strong foundation in Java and preparing students to tackle additional languages such as C, C++ and Python during the competition.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our CIS students for taking on this challenge,” said Powell. “Justin and Matt dedicated their personal time to this transformative learning experience, understanding how it would strengthen their skills and prepare them for career success. I look forward to working with Dr. Richardson to involve even more students in next year’s competition.”
To learn more about Northwestern State’s concentration in computer science, go to https://www.nsula.edu/program/bachelor-of-science-in-mathematics/.
Information on the CIS degree is at https://www.nsula.edu/program/bachelor-of-science-in-computer-information-systems/.