University of Wisconsin-Parkside Emeritus Professor of Mathematics Donald Piele leads the four-member USA Computer Olympiad team in search of medals at the 20th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). Top high school-age computer programmers from Indiana, Louisiana, and two from the same school in Virginia face competitors from more than 70 countries at Cairo, Egypt, August, 16-23, 2008.

The USA team's lone returning member is David Benjamin, a junior at William Henry Harrison High School in West Lafayette, Ind. Benjamin earned a bronze medal at last year's IOI in Zagreb, Croatia. He is joined by Neal Wu, a sophomore at Baton Rouge Magnet High School in Baton Rouge, La. Two students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., senior Jacob Steinhardt and Brian Hamrick, a junior, will also represent the country.      

The 2008 team was selected from a field 15 high school students during the U.S. Open, part of an eight-day training camp and competition recently held at UW-Parkside in Kenosha, Wis. The USA Computing Olympiad (USACO) conducted six Web-based programming contests leading up to the Wisconsin camp.

USACO is sponsored by USENIX, IBM, and ITA Software.