Through a computer programming contest, an alumnus is paying tribute to his late father while rewarding tech creativity at the Case School of Engineering.

The RFB Programming Competition, which debuted this spring, is named for Robert F. Buchheit (1938–2021), an electrical engineer and the father of Paul Buchheit ’98, MS ’98.

Paul Buchheit is renowned for creating the email program Gmail while one of the early employees at Google. The Case-trained computer scientist also built the prototype for AdSense and came up with Google’s famous slogan, “Don’t be evil.” Today, he’s a partner at Y Combinator, a California startup accelerator and investment firm. The contest he helped launch this spring introduces another doorway into computer programming at Case.

Undergraduates of any major were invited to compete for $75,000 in prize money, including a $50,000 grand prize. Contestants had to solve several programming problems, ranging from easy to difficult. After a qualifying round March 24, finalists competed April 12 in the computer lab in Nord Hall.