The Dorothy Coding Challenge#
The Physics Without Frontiers (PWF) programme of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), in collaboration with Grupo de Investigadores Latitud Cero, Universidad Yachay Tech, Universidad Internacional del Ecuador (UIDE), and Escuela Politécnica Nacional, has the pleasure to invite university students to participate in the Dorothy Coding Challenge.
The Dorothy Coding Challenge is a scientific programming contest aimed at motivating BSc students in Ecuador to pursue careers that combine computer science with natural sciences (physics, in particular). Students who participate in this year’s edition will have the opportunity to team up with a peer and together demonstrate their Python coding abilities to solve tricky problems related to scientific computing.
Requirements:#
Teams must consist of 2 students.
All participants must:
be currently registered as BSc students in any Ecuadorian university, or
have gotten their BSc degrees recently (January 2022 or later).
Teams must apply to participate by providing:
a motivation letter, and
a Python-language experience statement.
Team members must be very well versed in programming with the Python language (challenges will use Python version 3.x).
Application procedure and contest timeline:#
Interested teams should follow these steps:
1. Application step (deadline: 19th November 2023).
The potential participants apply for a spot by registering their team here:
https://forms.gle/3JP5xBFJN1jAdR7FA
2. Selection process (new deadline: 29th November 2023).
The contest evaluation panel selects 10 teams, contacts them, and sends them three coding challenges.
3. Dorothy Coding Challenge Contest (deadline: 10th December 2023).
The 10 selected teams send their solutions to the proposed challenges by the deadline.
4. Evaluation process (deadline: 14th December 2023).
The evaluation panel submits their scores on the solutions submitted by all teams.
5. Winners announcement (15th December 2023).
The winning teams are publicly announced in an online event and they receive their prizes and certificates.
PWF prizes and certificates:#
Thanks to the very generous financial support from ICTP’s PWF programme, the winning teams will receive ICTP-signed certificates and the following prizes:
Winner Team’s prize: 320 USD#
2nd Team’s prize: 160 USD#
3rd Team’s prize: 80 USD#
Note: These prizes are per team, not per person.#
Topics for the programming challenges:#
The 10 selected teams will have to solve three programming challenges (all in Python version 3.x) within the following areas:
Selected Teams:#
The selection process has concluded, 13 teams from 3 different universities will compete in this years’s edition of Dorothy:
1. Prometeo, Yachay Tech University#
Luis David Morocho Pogo
Yordan Eduardo Solorzano Roman
2. Complex Kenna Coders, Yachay Tech University#
Arianna Judith Paredes Quiñonez
Kevin Alexis Robalino Gómez
3. AHDP, Escuela Politécnica Nacional#
Daniel García-Villacañas Garcés
Alejandro Javier Cobo Urvina
4. G-JD CodeCrafters, Universidad Internacional del Ecuador#
Guillermo Rafael Fuenmayor Solano
Juan Diego Terneus Gonzalez
5. Chaotic Code, Yachay Tech University#
Juan José Macharé
Hugo Chancay
6. Critical Quipu Cartographers, Yachay Tech University#
Juan Sebastián Velez Rojas
Ricardo Isaías Velasco Silva
7. Comphys, Escuela Politécnica Nacional#
Joseph Luis Cruz Ayala Gutemberg
Stiven Mendoza Mestanza
8. Sigmas, Escuela Politécnica Nacional#
Esteban Fernando Cárdenas Andino
Nicolas Alonso Noriega Cruz
9. VAS, Yachay Tech University#
Vicente Alexander Arévalo Nazate
Saire David Conejo Pichamba
10. Pythonic Force, Escuela Politécnica Nacional#
Jennifer Lorena Ortega Aguilar
Andy Marlon Rubio Erazo
11. Code Crafters, Yachay Tech University#
Bryan Joel Pinargote Morrillo
Ariana Melissa Veliz Mendoza
12. Neural Nexus, Yachay Tech University#
Saul Steven Figueroa Guayllas
Leonel Ángel Cabrera Loor
13. HintOn, Yachay Tech University#
Julio Rogers Cajas Guncay
Esteban Sebastian Moscoso Garcia
Instructions for participating teams:#
Results:#
Out of the selected 13 teams we received solutions to the challenges from 8 teams. The results of the evaluation are the following:
1st place:#
Chaotic Code Team members: Juan José Macharé and Hugo Chancay
2nd place:#
Critical Quipu Cartographers Team members: Juan Sebastián Velez Rojas and Ricardo Isaías Velasco Silva
3rd place:#
Sigmas Team members: Esteban Fernando Cárdenas Andino and Nicolas Alonso Noriega Cruz
Congratulations to the winners and all the participating teams!
Evaluation process and criteria:#
The selection of the 10 participating teams will be based on a blind evaluation of the motivation letters and statements of prior python programming experience. Diversity criteria will also be considered.
The assessment of the winning teams will be based on the average of the scores submitted by a revision panel of experts, who will blindly review the codes and be instructed to evaluate: i) solution correctness, ii) code performance, and iii) code design and user friendliness.
Panel of experts:#
Andrés Morales-Navarrete, Konstanz University, Germany
Paulina Vizcaíno, UIDE, Ecuador
Óscar Chimborazo, Universidad Yachay Tech, Ecuador
Iván Reyes, UIDE, Ecuador
Edison Salazar, Leiden Univeristy, The Netherlands
Alejandro Gómez, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Logistics organisers:#
Helga Dénes, Universidad Yachay Tech, Ecuador
Wladimir Banda-Barragán, Universidad Yachay Tech, Ecuador
A contest to honour Dorothy Johnson Vaughan:#
Dorothy Johnson Vaughan was an American mathematician and human computer who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), later NASA, at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. In 1949, she became acting supervisor of the West Area Computers, the first African-American woman to receive a promotion and supervise a group of staff at the center. She later was promoted officially to the position of supervisor. During her 28-year career, Vaughan prepared for the introduction of computers in the early 1960s by teaching herself and her staff the Fortran programming language. She later headed the programming section of the Analysis and Computation Division (ACD) at Langley.