UW-Madison computer programming team heads to Tokyo

One of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s computer programming teams will travel to Tokyo for the world finals of the International Collegiate Programming Contest in March.

Two of UW–Madison’s teams dominated the competition at November’s regional contest by taking both first and second place among 181 teams. Although the three winning teams of each regional competition advance to the world finals, restrictions state that only one team per university can participate. This year, UW–Madison’s “3SAT Oracle” team, which placed first just above “The Brute Squad,” will have the honors of traveling abroad.

“3SAT Oracle” will travel to Tokyo for the world finals of the contest on Sunday, March 11, facing 85 top teams from around the world. UW–Madison has advanced to world finals for the past six years in a row.

Last year, the team received honorable mentions, and coach Dieter Van Melkebeek is hoping for even better this year.

“We won the regional competition by having motivated and bright students participate, by selecting the right ones to be on the team and by having a serious preparation program,” Van Melkebeek says. “I have very high hopes for this year’s team. The students are very strong individually, they complement each other well and they are very committed.”