Giselle Reis and Eduardo Feo Flushing organized the first Qatar national ICPC event in January.
Giselle Reis and Eduardo Feo Flushing organized the first Qatar national ICPC event in January.

First official Qatar teams participate in Arab Collegiate Programming Competition

Two student teams from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a Qatar Foundation partner university, were the first official participants representing Qatar at the Arab Collegiate Programming Competition (ACPC).

The annual competition challenges participants from across the Arab world to solve a set of programming problems. There were more than 120 teams who competed this year from seven sites: Benin, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Qatar. The teams were given five hours to solve 13 problems.

CMU-Q co-organizers Giselle Reis and Eduardo Feo Flushing were pleased that the students could participate, given the restrictions on travel and gatherings during the pandemic.

Reis said, “This event could not have happened without the support from the CMU-Q community, including staff and student volunteers who helped us set up the computers, create a safe space to compete, organize food for the participants, and monitor them while they worked. It was truly a team effort.”

The teams representing Qatar were comprised of CMU-Q students Mohammed Al-Jawaheri, Stefan Baumann, John Jeong, Abubakr Mohamed and Radu Revutchi. A sixth student, Igli Mlloja, also qualified, but was not in Qatar for the competition.

While the teams will not be advancing to the finals, the competition was an important step for students in Qatar. “In the past, students from Qatar could not compete in the regionals because we had no national competition,” said Reis. “Now we can prepare for the competition and ensure university students in this country have the skills they need to compete on an international level.”

The ACPC regionals are the final step before the International Collegiate Programming Competition World Finals. ICPC is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious programming contest in the world, with national and regional competitions held around the globe.

CMU-Q held the first Qatar national competition in January.

 

Search News

Get updates on all upcoming CMU-Q events & news