Science & Technology

UWF team earns third place in computer programming competition

A University of West Florida student team placed third in Division II at the annual International Collegiate Programming Contest Southeast competition on March 5. The UWF Department of Computer Science hosted the competition as one of five regional sites for teams from UWF and other nearby universities to participate in the 2021 ICPC Southeast contest, which was postponed due to COVID-19. 

UWF Computer Science students competed against other institutions during the Intercollegiate Programming Contest in the Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering on Mar. 5, 2022.

A University of West Florida student team placed third in Division II at the annual International Collegiate Programming Contest Southeast competition on March 5. The UWF Department of Computer Science hosted the competition as one of five regional sites for teams from UWF and other nearby universities to participate in the 2021 ICPC Southeast contest, which was postponed due to COVID-19. 

A total of 67 student teams competed in Division I and Division II of the competition at UWF and four other host universities including the College of Charleston, Mercer University, Samford University and Florida International University. 

During the five-hour long competition, teams of three students wrote several computer programs to solve algorithmic problems. Solutions were submitted online from the team’s assigned computers to have them instantly evaluated. Teams that correctly solved the greatest number of problems in the shortest time won the competition. The goal is to challenge students in solving advanced computing problems.

“UWF Computer Science students competed against teams from top universities in the Southeast region and placed 3rd in the overall competition in Division II,” said Dr. Thomas Reichherzer, chair of the Department of Computer Science. “This is an amazing achievement and the faculty and I are proud of our students that did so well in the contest.” 

The winning UWF team included computer science graduate student Tobias Jacob, and computer science majors Eric DiGioacchino and Peyton Spellings. The students met regularly weeks before the contest to review and solve past problem sets, as well as study algorithms and data structures from course material and books. 

Contestants from the University of Central Florida, Georgia Institute of Technology and Troy University placed first, second and third place respectively across 34 teams competing in Division I and contestants from Mercer University, University of Alabama and UWF placed first, second and third respectively across 33 teams competing in Division II of the overall contest.

For more information about the International Collegiate Programming Contest Southeast USA, visit the ICPC website.

For more information about the Department of Computer Science, visit uwf.edu/computerscience.