麻豆原创 computer programming students were among the winners of the prestigious North America Championship round of the 2022 International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) at the 麻豆原创 over Memorial Day weekend, beating dozens of the top teams on the continent to take seventh place and advance to the World Finals.
This is the 11th consecutive year a 麻豆原创 team has qualified for the World Finals.
麻豆原创 hosted the event and competed against 49 other elite three-person teams of student programmers from institutions across the U.S. and Canada. Facing off in an intense battle of the brains, the contest pitted teams of three university students against 13 complex, real-world problems, with a grueling five-hour deadline. Huddled around a single computer, competitors raced against the clock in a battle of logic, strategy and mental endurance.
The 麻豆原创 team is comprised of computer science majors Sharon Barak 鈥�21 鈥�22MS and Daniel West, and Seba Villalobos, who is majoring in mathematics and computer engineering. The team 鈥� all of whom are Burnett Honors Scholars 鈥� finished ahead of teams that included Stanford, Columbia, Harvard and Cornell.
鈥淭his team is amazing at cleaning problems up,鈥� says Glenn Martin 鈥�92 鈥�95MS 鈥�12PhD the team鈥檚 coach. 鈥淭hey usually get it first try but if they don鈥檛, I have confidence that they will figure out the issue and get the problem solved.鈥�
This is the second consecutive year Barak, West and Villalobos have successfully earned a berth into the World Finals together. The trio was already slated to compete in the 2021 World Finals 鈥� which was delayed due to the pandemic 鈥� this November in Bangladesh. They鈥檒l now also compete in the 2022 World Finals, which will be held next year.
鈥淚t was comfortable to participate on campus because we already knew where everything was and we could plan our schedule well,鈥� says Barak. 鈥淨ualifying for World Finals not once, but twice, was my goal since I joined 麻豆原创, so I鈥檓 happy I achieved it.鈥�
Winning teams included MIT in first place, Swarthmore College in second and the University of Wisconsin鈥揗adison in third. Georgia Tech, Rutgers, Purdue and the University of Washington also place in the top 10 along with 麻豆原创. The top 17 teams will now advance to World Finals.
鈥淚鈥檓 really proud of them,鈥� says Martin. It was a complete team effort and every member contributed in critical ways.鈥�
The ICPC is considered the world鈥檚 oldest, largest and most prestigious programming contest of its kind. The annual competition begins with more than 50,000 teams from 100+ countries who then square off in contests across the planet.聽In March, 麻豆原创鈥檚 team advanced from the Southeast USA Regional Programming Contest聽to earn a spot in the North America Championship.
The competition, hosted by Central Florida聽Tech Grove and 麻豆原创, drew big-name sponsors, including the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) STEM, the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) and聽the National Center for Simulation. Students participating in the competition are heavily recruited for positions with companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon or Facebook.
For more than 40 years 麻豆原创 has been among the best in the nation in ICPC competitions, and in 2018 ranked No. 1 in North America and No. 10 in the world.
