Thursday, July 6, 2023

Waterloo tops the competition at 2023 ICPC North America Championship

By Joe Petrik. This is an excerpt of an article originally featured on Waterloo News.

Waterloo does it again.

Just as a trio of Waterloo coders had in 2021, a team of three Waterloo algorithmic programmers topped the competition at the 2023 International Collegiate Programming Contest North America Championship, held on May 29 at the University of Central Florida.

Waterloo overcame the competition, including trios of programmers from Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Harvard and the University of Toronto.

The team, comprised of Ramazan Rakhmatullin, a master’s student studying combinatorics and optimization, Andrew Qi Tang, a third-year computer science and combinatorics and optimization student and Kevin Wan, a fourth-year computer science and combinatorics and optimization student, finished solidly in first place at the annual North America programming contest.

L-r: Kevin Wan, Ramazan Rakhmatullin, Andrew Qi Tang and Cheriton School of Computer Science professor Troy Vasiga celebrate their first-place win at the 2023 ICPC North America Championship hosted by the University of Central Florida. (Photo credit: Michael Roytek)

“We could not be more pleased with how well Ramazan, Andrew and Kevin performed,” said Cheriton School of Computer Science professor Troy Vasiga, who coached the team with his colleague, professor Ondřej Lhoták.

“Our coders not only solved 11 of the contest’s 13 problems — more than any other team — but they were the only team to solve three of the problems first among the 51 teams of programmers from universities across North America. As the top team at the North America competition, they are coming in strong to compete at the ICPC World Finals, which will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in November.”

Read the rest of the article on Waterloo News

International Development has a nice ring to it

Neil Craik (Director, SEED), John Abraham (Academic Dean, United College), Abbigail Hamre, Veta Parco, Sarah Harvey, Samreen Rasheed, Michaëlle Jean (Chancellor, United College), Cameron McCordic (faculty member, SEED and fellow, United College), and JK Seirlis (faculty member, United College).

By Rebecca Wagner.

Convocation is a coming together.    

It is a coming together of students, family, and friends to celebrate achievements, to highlight successes along academic journeys, to commemorate moving on to an exciting new chapter. It is a recognition of shared trials and tribulations, of overcoming obstacles and navigating rocks in one’s path.      

On June 13, 2023, four International Development (INDEV) students who completed their final year requirements came together at a special ceremony at United College that preceded the Faculty of Environment convocation at the University of Waterloo. This ceremony was presided over by United College Chancellor, Michaëlle Jean.

Three of the four International Development students who attended the ceremony recently returned from an 8-month overseas field placement to be together for this special occasion. The placements are an integral part of the International Development program and prepare students for a life of social impact globally and locally, helping them meet challenges of the present and future. Placement locations for the 2023 graduating class included Kampala, Uganda, Lilongwe, Malawi, and Hanoi, Vietnam.    

The highlight of any graduation is that special moment when a student hears their name called, and they walk across the stage. For students in the International Development program, a collaboration between United College and the Faculty of Environment, this special moment also involves the awarding of rings.    

The INDEV rings represent a coming together. They are a celebration of the interconnectedness of students and of the tight-knit United College community. They are a reminder that no matter how far students and alumni journey, they will always be part of the United College family.

New rings, unveiled for the 2023 graduating class, incorporate the new United College name and branding (formerly St. Paul’s), and include a map of the world, a continuation of previous years’ designs. The silver of the rings is ethically sourced, which is consistent with the values of United College and the International Development program.     

“The new INDEV rings are a visual connection to the scope of students’ academic training," says John Abraham, Academic Dean of United College. "They are a reminder to maintain a global perspective, even when acting locally."

The INDEV ring ceremony is a unique send-off that allows students to commemorate and cement life-long bonds before continuing their social impact journeys. The rings themselves are a tie that binds, reminding graduates of their achievements, of all they have overcome, and that pull them back to their United College family, to where it all began.     

Students awarded INDEV rings in 2023 include Abbigail Hamre, Veta Parco, Sarah Harvey, Samreen Rasheed and Ella Stewart.  Ella received recognition in absentia.       

Shad begins

A message from Shad Waterloo.

Shad Waterloo will be running from July 2 to July 28 for 54 grade 10/11 students from all across Canada. 

We have been proudly hosting the Shad program on Waterloo’s campus since 1983. This pivotal experience has a profound impact on these bright and curious students. Many students love the Shad Waterloo program so much, they decide that Waterloo is where they’d like to pursue their undergraduate studies. 

At Shad students participate in hands-on learning, collaborate in design groups, explore post-secondary institutions, engage with academic and entrepreneurial mentors, experience vulnerability training, and meet some of the most passionate peers in the country. There are close to 20,000 alumni from this competitive-application program. This summer Shad will be hosted at 22 campuses across Canada.

We will be delivering the 2023 program with workshops, lectures, and mentoring from Waterloo faculty across the campus that focus on STEAM-learning, design thinking, entrepreneurship, all while building a meaningful community. 

The Department of Knowledge Integration (KI) is the home to Shad Waterloo. Rob Gorbet, Shad Waterloo Program Director, Associate Professor and Chair of KI, has been involved with Shad since 2008 and believes “it is amazing that Shad gets more female applicants than male applicants given that it is a mostly STEM-focused program.” Every year, for the past 40 years Shad has consistently been majority female.

Each year Shads take on a group design challenge to solve a social and economic issue with a STEAM lens. Each campus tackles the same real-world problem in designated design groups, with assigned mentors, and they develop STEAM-based solutions. This is an entrepreneurial experience with a social impact twist. And one of the most loved aspects of Shad’s program.

This year the design project theme is “Reimagining Living Spaces in Canada”.

Shads will hold a public open house to show off their achievements, including creative ideas they have come up with to tackle this year’s design project theme, on the afternoon of Thursday, July 27, in the Great Hall at Conrad Grebel University College.