Chen Zhi-yang, a first year Ph.D. student from the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, grapped the top slot in the Excel category for university students in the National Competition for MOS Best that was organized by Elite Information Technology Company sometime ago. He won a Wii and the chance, with flight and accommodation covered, to represent Taiwan to compete at the 2007 Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office in Orlando, Florida on July 19.

Chen excelled amongst 32 competitors in the category. There were two stages, first round and the final round. In the first round, the questions were specific and easier to answer, so speed and accuracy were highly crucial. In the final, the questions were fairly general, thus more challenging. Thanks to his meticulous preparation in advance, he was able to tackle the questions quickly and precisely.

He uses Excel regularly and frequently for his research, which is in data mining. For this competition, he spent a week prior to the event on preparation. With this relatively short time, he was surprised and delighted by his win. He gave his prize, Wii, to his mom, and extremely looking forward to his trip to Florida. He hopes to learn something new and make some friends when he’s there.

Picture: Chen Zhi-yang, a first year Ph.D. student from the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, is seen here receiving his award for winning the top place in Excel in a national MO competition. ( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )