Eight students from Northern Kentucky University earned recognition at the KRYPTOS cryptanalysis competition presented by the Pacific Northwest Section of the Mathematical Association of America April over the weekend hosted by Central Washington University.
A total of 153 students from 67 teams participated, representing colleges, universities, academies, institutes and high schools from 21 states. Teams consisted of two or three undergraduate students who were allowed to use any printed publications or web page not directly related to the competition. Students were also allowed to use software programs and Java applets to assist with problem solving so long as they existed prior to the competition or were written entirely by team members.
Five participants from NKU earned the Turing level of achievement as master codebreakers – they solved all three challenges in the competition. Those students were Paul Sparks, Alexander Fish, Daniel Stine, Nathan Dasenbrock-Gammon, and Jason Garner. Only 37 students in the competition achieved this status.
Three NKU students earned the achievement level of Pretty Good, solving one of the three challenges. Those students – Kyle McCarty, Trent Turner, and Jared Bryant – were among 26 total students who earned this achievement.
From NKU