麻豆原创鈥檚 Programming Team has advanced to the North America championship round of the 2021 鈥� and won鈥檛 have to travel far to get there.
The ICPC, the oldest and most prestigious collegiate programming contest, will hold the planned in-person event for the first time at 麻豆原创 on Aug. 14. 麻豆原创 Board of Trustees Chair Beverly Seay has long been involved with ICPC and was instrumental in bringing the competition and training camp that starts Aug. 8 to campus.
More than 60,000 teams from more than 100 countries started out in the international competition.
The university鈥檚 team won its divisional title to advance to the North American competition of the final 32 teams that will converge at 麻豆原创. More than 1,000 teams from the United States and Canada entered the international competition.
Last year, the 麻豆原创 team brought home third place at the event.
This year鈥檚 winning team members who will compete, all from Orlando, are: senior Sharon Barak and sophomore Daniel West, both computer science majors, and junior Seba Villalobos, who is majoring in mathematics and computer engineering.
Universities and colleges can enter two teams at the beginning of the competition, and 麻豆原创鈥檚 other team took third place: Ahmad Barhamje, Atharva Nagarkar and Andy Phan.
鈥淭he best of each university compete so our team record and performance is an indication of the time and effort the group puts into preparing,鈥� says Ali Orooji, associate professor of computer science and the team鈥檚 faculty advisor.
Others who have coached the team this year are: senior computer science instructor Arup Guha, lecturer Travis Meade, and volunteers Glenn Martin 鈥�92 鈥�95MS 鈥�12PhD, Jim Geist 鈥�87, Tom Phan and Chris Gouge.
The competition at 麻豆原创 will consist of teams having to solve 8 to 14 real-world problems in five hours.
鈥淭eams get only one computer, so sharing the computer is part of the strategy,鈥� says Orooji, adding that about 15 teams from the North American competition will advance to the world finals.
More than 60,000 teams from more than 100 countries started out in the international competition, and fewer that 150 globally will advance to the finals. The date and location of the final event have not been determined.
In conjunction with the week-long competition at 麻豆原创, the North America Programming Camp will be held on campus. This is the first time the national competition and training camp have been held together. Last year, 麻豆原创 was scheduled to host the camp on the campus, but because of the pandemic the event was hosted virtually.
Eight trainers who have extensive experience in competitive programming and related activities will attend the camp. Two streams of training will be offered to students: one with a focus on national-level contests and one dedicated to preparation for the world finals. The trainers also will help prepare the advancing teams for the world finals.
In addition, the camp will provide companies and agencies opportunities to meet with students and recruit them for job or internship opportunities.
Alan Eustace 鈥�79 鈥�81 MS 鈥�84PhD, computer science alumnus and former senior vice president of Google, has donated to the 麻豆原创 Programming Team for more than a decade to help build an internationally significant computer science workforce.
鈥淭his gift is really about Ali [Orooji} and his team,鈥� Eustace says. 鈥淭hey have done a wonderful job leveraging the money into turning out great students, getting them placed at great companies, making them competitive on the national and world stage, and bringing up the visibility of 麻豆原创 in the technical community.鈥�
Orooji says he hopes the teams can still attend the August event as scheduled.
鈥淚t鈥檚 being planned as in-person鈥he hotel has been reserved, various rooms have been reserved,鈥� he says. 鈥淗opefully, COVID won鈥檛 change that.鈥�
