Business computer information systems senior Brian Powers won first place in the most difficult portion of IBM's Master the Mainframe contest for the North American region.

Students in nine regions worldwide competed to come up with solutions to unique challenges simulating real-life scenarios faced by skilled computer programmers. In total, 4,174 students from more than 400 high schools and universities participated in the three-part challenge.

For winning Part 3, Powers received an all-expenses-paid trip to the SHARE conference in San Jose, California, to learn and network with some of IBM's biggest executives, business partners and clients.