UCF to Compete in the International Collegiate Programming Contest’s 2026 World Finals After Top 5 Finish

UCF student programmers are poised to showcase their formidable skills on a world stage after a top five finish at this weekend's International Collegiate Programming Contest North America Championship (ICPC NAC).

Computer science students Brian Barak '25, Thomas Meeks and Benjamin Prins competed as UCF Triangulate, one of the 52 university teams at the NAC who earned the chance to compete for a spot internationally from an original field of about 1,000 from the U.S. and Canada. UCF placed No. 5, earning the opportunity to head to Dubai in November to compete at the 50th annual ICPC World Finals.

The trio placed ahead of the Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Florida, the other two schools in the contest's southeast region. They also beat Ivy League universities and colleges with notable computer science programs, including California Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Carnegie Mellon University.

"The contest has grown from a few hundred students to almost 100,000 students. It's getting harder and more challenging each year to outperform others," says UCF programming team faculty advisor Ali Orooji. "We are very proud of our students and coaches who put in the time and effort to do well in the contest."

ICPC student programmers are among the best in the world. At UCF, competitors are often recruited for their contest experience by companies such as Google and Microsoft, attracted by contestants' proven ability to collaborate under pressure on advanced algorithms.

"The training offered by [our computer programming teams'] coaches is exceptional, and our competitors' commendable work ethic and skills continue to draw the attention of the tech industry to our college." - Michael Georgiopoulos, CECS dean

"Our programming team continues to make us proud with their latest accomplishment," says College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean Michael Georgiopoulos. "They are establishing a legacy of excellence in programming for UCF. The training offered by their coaches is exceptional, and our competitors' commendable work ethic and skills continue to draw the attention of the tech industry to our college."

During the contest, the competitors have five hours to answer a series of logic problems that require developing algorithms to solve. The problems are based on real-world scenarios such as modeling air traffic flow, optimizing security for an art gallery, and tracking animals in a wildlife preserve. Teams of three collaborate on one computer to solve the most problems in the least amount of time.

Barak, Meeks and Prins solved nine out of the 13 problems, and were the first to solve problem K.

"I think we had several advantages over other North America teams going into the contest that played a part in our team's performance: a phenomenal support structure with the dedicated coaches, especially our team's coach Glenn Martin '92 '95MS '12PhD; access to the programming team lab; and support from the rest of the team," Meeks says.

He adds that frequent and consistent twice-weekly practice and training on challenging problems from ICPC training camp sets and the Universal Cup, a nonprofit organization that provides resources for competitive programmers, also contributed to their success.

"Several years of being on a team together helped us form a strong and efficient team dynamic," he says.

Hosted by UCF for the past six years, the NAC attracts a number of sponsors who recognize the contest as an opportunity to meet the next generation of talented programmers. This year's contest sponsors included Jane Street, OpenAI, JetBrains, Jump Trading, Citadel, the National Security Agency, Hudson River Trading and Upsilon Pi Epsilon Honor Society.

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