UChicago CS Team Qualified for 2026 ICPC World Final Championships in Dubai
The International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is an international competition that provides university students with the opportunity to demonstrate their problem-solving, programming, and teamwork skills. The purpose of the ICPC North America Regional Programming Contests is to bring together as many students from as many different institutions in each region to compete in the spirit of fun. Successful teams will be able to advance to higher tiers of competition, including the North America Championships (NAC) and the ICPC World Finals, which is held in Dubai this year.
This year is the second year in a row that UChicago’s team has qualified for the ICPC Word Finals, after receiving first place at the Mid-Central ICPC regionals and excelling at the NAC 2026 Championship, which took place between March 18-23, 2026 in Orlando, Florida. They were awarded $3,000 for their performance.
The team, which consists of students Bach Tran, Hung Pham, and Long Nguyen, competed under the team name “pocpocpoc” and was coached by Jessup Jong and Ziyi Zhang. However, this is not their first rodeo. Last year, the same team (with Lucio Cardoso Dias Figueiredo Filho as a team member) qualified for the 2025 ICPC Worlds Finals in Baku, Azerbaijan, which was UChicago’s first qualification in six years, following its last in 2019. They earned the qualification by finishing in 7th place overall at NAC, securing one of the coveted advancement spots to the World Finals.
“We are thrilled,” Jong said. “These achievements represent years of hard work. Each participant spends countless hours to become world class. People often say it takes a village. We are thankful to the student community, faculty, and staff at the University of Chicago for supporting our events throughout the years. UChicago has funded all travel for these competitions. These achievements are thanks to the overwhelming support from all of you.”
According to the Competitive Programming Hall of Fame, the 2025 team solved seven of twelve problems, the highest problem count UChicago has ever achieved in its 25-year ICPC World Finals history and the university’s best World Finals ranking since 2009. In recognition of their speed and problem-solving skill, the team also received the “First to Solve Problem J” award, earning 1st Place for being the earliest team to successfully complete that problem.
Throughout all of the ICPC competitions, the team demonstrated sustained competitive strength in algorithm design, data structures, and problem decomposition under intense time pressure. Their results reflect not only individual talent but also years of investment in competitive programming within the department, including coaching, practice contests, and peer-led training.
“This is my fourth year helping organize ICPC. I am thankful for the opportunity to work with such talented students at the University of Chicago,” Jong stated. “It is delightful to see students blossom from individual to team players. I look forward to fostering the larger community of coders at the University of Chicago.”
Congratulations to the ICPC team for their strong showing in regionals and NAC! We are wishing them the best at the 2026 World Finals!
