27 May 2016 – NUS Computing’s Team RRwatameda placed 14th in the 2016 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals in Phuket, Thailand last week, just shy of the coveted top-12 medal positions.
This year, a total of 128 teams competed in the World Finals, after clearing a field of 40,266 contestants, from 2736 universities in 102 countries at over 481 regional competition sites around the world. By placing 14th out of 128, Team RRwatameda achieved the best performance by an NUS team in 15 years.
The team comprised of Nguyen Thanh Trung (Master’s, Computer Science), Nguyen Tan Sy Nguyen (Year 4, Computer Science), Nguyen Hung Tam (Year 3, Computer Science), coached by Associate Professor Tan Sun Teck and Professor Ken Sung. This year, A/P Tan received the 5x World Finals Coach Award, presented to coaches who have led teams to at least five World Finals. A/P Tan has long been involved in ICPC coaching and has led NUS teams to the 2005 Shanghai, 2009 Stockholm, 2013 St Petersburg, 2015 Morocco and 2016 Phuket World Finals.
Nguyen Thanh Trung and Nguyen Tan Sy Nguyen have competed in two World Finals (the maximum allowed) and will be graduating, so NUS Computing ICPC coaches will be recruiting and training new team members to take the places of the graduating seniors. An internal individual selection contest will be held on Saturday 10 September 2016. Students who are interested in competitive programming may contact Dr. Steven Halim.
About ICPC:
The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is a multitier, team-based, programming competition operating under the auspices of ACM and headquartered at Baylor University. The contest involves a global network of universities hosting regional competitions that advance teams to the ACM-ICPC World Finals. Participation has grown to several tens of thousands of the finest students and faculty in computing disciplines at almost 2,736 universities from over 102 countries on six continents. The contest fosters creativity, teamwork, and innovation in building new software programs, and enables students to test their ability to perform under pressure. Quite simply, it is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious programming contest in the world.
The contest pits teams of three university students against eight or more complex real-world problems, with a gruelling five-hour deadline. Huddled around a single computer, competitors race against the clock in a battle of logic, strategy and mental endurance.