Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.— A Mississippi State computer science major from Alabama is among 15 students who will be competing next month for a $100,000 grand prize in the 2016 Jeopardy! ^® College Championship.

Junior Michael J. Sieja of Huntsville is scheduled to appear on the Wednesday [Feb. 3] quarterfinals broadcast of the long-running television game show hailed as “America’s Favorite Quiz Show.”

The 2016 Jeopardy!^® College Championship runs Feb. 1-12. Viewing stations and times may be found online at https://www.jeopardy.com/about/find-your-station. The winner also secures a bid in the next Jeopardy!^® Tournament of Champions.

Sieja said being on Jeopardy!^® presents many great opportunities, but more than anything, he is proud to be representing MSU on a national level.

“Any time you can represent your university while making 14 new friends and having a great time doing it is a great opportunity in itself,” he said of his participation in the competition. “I had a great time getting to know these intelligent and great people from all around the country while filming the show, and we all still remain in contact.”

He continued: “In the past two years, I have grown to love MSU. It has given me so many great friends and opportunities, and it feels good to be able to highlight the role that the university has played in my life. I enjoyed being able to show how special of a place MSU really is.”

In addition to MSU, institutions of higher learning that are being represented this year include Augustana University, Brown University, Columbia University, Louisiana State University, North Carolina State University, Northeastern University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, United States Military Academy at West Point, University of California at Berkeley, University of Pittsburgh, University of Southern California, University of Virginia and Wright State University.

Joseph C. “Joey” Beachum, a 2008 summa cum laude political science graduate from Saltillo, beat out contestants from 14 other colleges and universities to win the 2008 Jeopardy! ^® College Championship.

For more on the competition, visit https://www.jeopardy.com/tournaments/2016/college-championship.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.