MEET THE TEAMS OF 2020
Team name: Model Solution
Institution: University of Wisconsin – Madison
Coach: Dieter van Melkebeek
1. How did you (Coach) get involved as a coach for ICPC competitions? What year did you become involve as a coach?
In 2001, my first year on the faculty, students wanted to form a UW-Madison team and asked for help with some of the problems. One of my colleagues was the official coach that year; I just taught a few lectures and ran some help sessions. Later on that year, I read a report on how the team of my alma mater did at the world finals; the report claimed that I was the next coach in line for UW-Madison. This is how I got volunteered into coaching our teams. I’ve been doing it every year since then.
2. How many teams have you (Coach) brought to the World Finals?
Nineteen – every year since 2001-2002.
3. Is there a strategy or lesson your team has learned that increased your success?
Always look back to learn from mistakes.
4. How did you come up with your team name?
We sat together, crossed out several possibilities, and stared at each other for a while. Then suddenly one of us said “What about “Model Solution”? ” and everyone said yes instantly! In some programming contests for high school students in Vietnam, there is an account called “Jury” that contains the model solution. The judges use this account to know whether the model solution compiles and works on the judging machine.
5. What are your team members majoring in? How does that help them with programming?
We are all Computer Science majors.
One team member says that different courses help me with different things. Theory courses help me learn the proof, while System courses give me a chance to write pretty long code and manage complexity.
Another team member says that math class that I took help me a lot in understanding the mathematical model behind the algorithm.
6. What’s your team’s secret for all sharing one computer efficiently?
We don’t know whether we are sharing it efficiently at all. 🙂
Congrats to this wonderful team!!
#ICPC2020
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