Nov 4, 2009
School of Engineering, Amritapuri
The world’s largest inter-collegiate programming contest, the ACM-ICPC, sees annual participation from nearly 300,000 students world-wide. Amrita recently hosted the Asia Regional Contest at its Amritapuri campus. Below is a report by the Site Director, Dr. Vallath Nandakumar.
Another ACM-ICPC Regional at Asia Amritapuri Site concluded successfully, with team Oasis from Sogang University, South Korea, securing First Place (7/10 problems solved) and team CounterGambit from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India, securing Second Place (6/10 correct solutions).
The event began in September, with 302 teams participating in an online round. The top 56 teams participated in the onsite round on Oct. 31. These 56 teams came from different states in India — from Haryana to West Bengal to Kerala — as well as Korea, China, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka — representing a total of 50 universities.
The top two winners from the Regional will now attend the World Finals to be held in the Ice City of Harbin, China in 2010. They will compete with 98 other teams selected from over 7000 teams representing 1000 universities from 80 countries worldwide, to compete for top awards and prizes.
This was the fifth year in succession that Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham hosted the ICPC Asia Regional Contest. Ours was the Asia-Amritapuri Site Regional, conducted along with one other Regional in India, 14 other Regionals in Asia, and some 45 Regionals elsewhere in the world.
This year was the Green ICPC. Plastics were replaced by biodegradable materials like cloth and palm leaves. Complimentary backpacks made of denim and pens handcrafted from bamboo were our giveaways this year. As the sponsor, IBM sent Sudar Oli, Head of University Relations, to Amritapuri. Sudar was pleased at our expanding contest.
Amritapuri is a remote destination in South India and contestants travel long distances to come here. We like to, therefore, make this a memorable trip for them. The state of Kerala, where Amritapuri is located, is well-known for its beaches, mountains and many tourist attractions.
This year, all contestant teams joined us on a short trip to a nearby beach. After the contest, a day trip was organized for them to the Palaruvi waterfalls, where they enjoyed the scenic beauty of Kerala. They also had a taste of Kerala food with a banquet dinner and Kerala culture with a performance of dances.
Our website came in for praise from the ICPC worldwide management. “You have one of the best local pages of the regional contests — great job!” they told us. They said that they enjoyed watching the video of the 2008 contest. “… great job that you and your staff accomplished, allowing all participants to have an experience of a lifetime …” were their words.
I would like to thank IBM, ACM and ICPC worldwide management for making this fun and memorable event possible.
