About the Team

The UCF Programming Team originally started competing in the Association for Computing Machinery's International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) in the 1982-1983 academic year. The team has competed every single year since then, always placing a team in the top three (a feat not duplicated by any other school in our region).

UCF competes in the Southeast USA region, which is composed of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi. We have advanced to the World Finals competition almost every year since that first start in 1982. At the international level, UCF has placed as high as second place and competes well each year against the best teams from across the globe.

The team is chosen each year from UCF students and any UCF student is eligible that is taking at least a half-time load in the Fall semester and is within five years of starting college (some waivers are possible for this last guideline so please contact us if you have questions). We hold the UCF Local Programming Contest (LPC) at the start of each Fall semester; results are used to help choose the team. If you are interested and a UCF student (or prospective high school student that may attend UCF), please be sure to contact Dr. Orooji (his office is in the Harris Engineering Center, Room 345 or you can contact him at 407-823-5660 or through our contact form). He will give you information about the team and place you on his mailing list so you can get announcements as they occur. Even if you have missed the contest for this academic year, you are welcome to join us at our practices!

Starting in the 2013-2014 academic year and based upon expanding interest, the team formalized a concept of a Developmental Team. These are primarily freshmen and others (for example, we have encouraged women to participate to encourage female participation in competitive programming) that start their training early in their college career. Previously, it may have been difficult for a freshman to make the team due to the number of talented upperclassmen. Now, they start the process of preparing for collegiate programming contests and lay the foundation in becoming future team members! Contact Dr. Orooji for more information on this initiative as well.

As the team continues to grow, we have a number of opportunities and interests from outside companies. If you are from a company that has employment opportunities, wishes to make a donation to the team, or has some other interesting topic regarding the team, please contact Dr. Ali Orooji, UCF Programming Team advisor, by phone at 407-823-5660 or through our contact form.