Chinese students triumph at Informatics Olympiad at UQ

Chinese students have taken first and second place at the 2013 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) which concluded at the University of Queensland today (Friday 12 July).

Almost 300 competitors from secondary schools in more than 80 countries travelled to Brisbane for the week-long event.

It was the first time the competition has been held in Australia.

Competitors were set computer programming tasks in two five-hour exam periods and their efforts were “marked” by a computer program.

Overall winner Lijie Chen from China achieved top scores in five of the six tasks, with an overall score of 569 out of a total 600.

IOI 2013 Chairman Professor Peter Taylor said Lijie’s achievement was extremely impressive, given the degree of complexity and diverse nature of the problems.

“He was one of only three students able to solve Wombats, a hypothetical situation requiring competitors to design a program to navigate through disaster areas and find escape routes in rapidly changing conditions,” Professor Taylor said.

Students from China and Russia tied for third place.

The four Australian team members all won medals, with Ray Li achieving the team’s highest score, winning a silver medal.

The IOI 2013 Scientific Chair, Associate Professor Benjamin Burton from the UQ’s School of Mathematics and Physics, and the Olympiad would be an unforgettable experience for the competitors.

“We are sure it will be of great value in the future as these competitors move from high school to further study and to careers in this important field,” he said.

Next year’s IOI will be held in Taiwan.

The IOI is part of the UNESCO-sanctioned International Science and Mathematics Olympiads, which are annual worldwide competitions for exceptionally talented secondary school students and represent the pinnacle of achievement in each discipline.

IOI 2013 stories produced by UQ journalism students can be seen here.

Media: Julie Baglot, UQ Faculty of Science; 07 334 69498; j.baglot@uq.edu.au; IOI 2013 chairman Professor Peter Taylor, 0412 258 699 pjt013@gmail.com.