University of Waterloo programmers win UChicago Invitational

In a programming contest, the total time is derived from the time used to solve each individual problem, rewarding teams that solve problems faster than others. Harvard University finished second, earning the second-place gold medal and a $3,000 cash prize. Harvard solved eight questions in 1,156 minutes.

Stanford and Princeton came in third and fourth, respectively. Each received a silver medal and $1,500. Stanford solved eight problems in 1,185 minutes, followed by Princeton’s seven problems in 826 minutes.

The University of Central Florida and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively, stood fifth and sixth at the end of the contest. Central Florida solved seven problems in 918 minutes. MIT solved seven problems in 1,039 minutes. Both teams received a bronze medal and three $150 Amazon gift certificates.

The contest was sponsored by Palantir Technologies.

It was a tough day for the UChicago team, which did not solve any problems. Twenty-four teams, each consisting of three members, competed in the invitational. Click here for the final standings.

Twenty-two of the teams, including UChicago, next will compete in the World Finals of the Association for Computing Machinery ’s 2012 International Collegiate Programming Contest May 17 in Warsaw, Poland. None of the UChicago team members have previously competed in a World Finals, unlike the teams from the last two years, which each had one or two members with World Finals experience.

The University of Chicago Invitational Programming Contest took place last weekend on the fourth floor of the Ryerson Laboratory building. Twenty-four teams from across North America competed in the contest. Each balloon represents a correctly solved problem.

Contestants at the UChicago Invitational Programming Contest vied to solve 10 problems. The playfully worded problems had titles such as “Double Dealing,” “The End of the World,” and “The Red Gem.”

Joe DiCapua, second-year in mathematics, ponders a problem during last Sunday’s programming contest. DiCapua is a member of UChicago’s “White Board Erasers” team, which will compete May 17 at the World Finals in Warsaw, Poland.

Louis Wasserman (left), fourth-year in mathematics, and Borja Sotomayor, lecturer in computer science, at work in the judge’s lair during last weekend’s UChicago Invitational Programming Contest. Sotomayor is coach of UChicago’s programming team. Wasserman, who competed in the 2009 and 2010 Worlds Finals, is assistant coach.

Naren Hazareeshing (left), second-year in computer science, and Kevin Wang, second-year in physics, are two members of “Whiteboard Erasers,” the University of Chicago’s World Finals-bound programming team.

Steve Koppes
News Officer for Physical Sciences
The University of Chicago News Office
skoppes [a] uchicago (p) edu
(773) 702-8366