A trio of Waterloo’s top algorithmic programmers showcased their expertise at the 48th International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals, held in Astana, Kazakhstan, from September 15 to 20, 2024. The prestigious global competition attracted elite programming talent from over 140 universities, representing more than 50 countries.
From left to right: Kevin Wan (graduated in June 2024 with a double major in Computer Science and Combinatorics & Optimization), Wen Yuen Pang (graduated in June 2024 with a degree in Computer Science), and Max Jiang (3A Computer Science and Combinatorics & Optimization student) at the 48th ICPC World Finals
[Photo credit: 48th ICPC World Finals website]
“Kevin, Wen Yuen and Max were stellar representatives of Waterloo,” said Professor Troy Vasiga of the Cheriton School of Computer Science, who coaches the team with his colleague Professor Ondřej Lhoták. “With more than 20,000 teams participating across the Regional, National, Super Regional, and World Final competitions, finishing 30th in the world, fourth in North America — behind MIT, Swarthmore and Harvard — and being the top team from Canada is an extraordinary achievement.”
“Kevin and Wen Yuen both had excellent performances in previous ICPC World Finals, the maximum number of contests at which they can compete,” adds Professor Lhoták. “I’m confident that Max will continue to make Waterloo proud in future competitions.”
About the ICPC
The International Collegiate Programming Contest is the oldest, largest and most prestigious university-level algorithmic programming contest in the world. Each year, some 50,000 students from more than 3,000 universities across more than 100 countries compete in regional competitions to earn a spot at the World Finals.
Volunteer coaches prepare their teams with intense training and instruction in algorithms, programming and teamwork strategy. Huddled around a single computer, teams of three compete against each other to solve a dozen or so complex, real-world problems within a five-hour deadline. Teammates collaborate to rank the difficulty of the problems, deduce the requirements, design test beds, and build software systems that solve the problems.
Across the various ICPC competitions, teams of three students represent their university in multiple levels of regional competition. Success at one level leads to an invitation to the next. Each region progresses differently, but the result is the same — the best teams advance. The final regional contest determines the teams that advance to the ICPC World Finals.
Waterloo’s proud history at the International Collegiate Programming Contest
The University of Waterloo remains the only Canadian university to have won the ICPC World Finals, taking the prized title in 1994 and again in 1999.
Learn more about the ICPC and Waterloo’s participation in the contest in an article titled “A passion for programming — An interview with Cheriton School of Computer Science Professor Ondřej Lhoták,” who was a computer science undergrad on the Waterloo team that clinched the 1999 ICPC World Championship.