UC Santa Barbara Team Heads to ICPC World Finals

CCS students lead Team UCSB-WA as highest-ranked UC team after top-20 finish at North America Championship

A team of three UC Santa Barbara students is advancing to the World Finals of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), placing sixteenth out of 52 teams at the North America Championship (NAC) this past March 22 in Orlando, Florida. The top 16 teams from Canada and the U.S. earned guaranteed qualification to the World Finals, to be held November 15–29 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Two additional wildcard spots were awarded, with the possibility of more to follow.

Team UCSB-WA, comprised of Ezra Furtado-Tiwari ‘28 (CCS Computing, Mathematics), Om Mahesh ‘28 (CCS Mathematics; CoE Computer Science), and David Qiao ‘26 (CoE Computer Science; L&S Mathematics), earned a spot as the top-ranked University of California team, as well as the sole UC team to advance directly from the regionals to the World Finals, held November 15–29 in Dubai, U.A.E. Other UC teams may advance in the coming weeks

Widely regarded as the premier collegiate programming competition, the ICPC challenges teams to solve complex algorithmic problems under intense time constraints, reflecting real-world software development.

Teams advancing to the World Finals represent top collegiate problem-solving talent, with event organizer and computer science professor Daniel Lokshtanov noting, “To advance, a team needs extreme problem-solving skills. Imagine the hardest homework problem you've ever gotten—now you need to solve 10 of those in five hours.”

For team member David Qiao, this victory marks a fulfilling dream realized after four years of competing in the Southern California Regionals, with just one problem separating him from qualifying in past years.

“This year, by not only making it to NAC but also qualifying for Worlds, I feel like I’ve completed every goal I’ve had for my competition career,” he said. “I'm very thankful for my team as well and the group that we practice with; it's been a joy to discuss problems alongside them.”

"I feel like I’ve completed every goal I’ve had for my competition career.”

—David Qiao '26 (CoE Computer Science; L&S Mathematics)

Team member Om Mahesh echoed that sentiment, emphasizing the magnitude of the achievement. “This is the highest level an ICPC team can advance. After making NAC, the past few months of our lives have been centered around prepping for it. Qualifying for the World Finals was our main goal, so it was an amazing feeling to see it happen.”

He also pointed to the experience beyond the competition itself: “I generally enjoyed meeting all of the big names I have only seen on leaderboards and heard legends about.”

As the team prepares for the World Finals, team member Ezra Furtado-Tiwari is tackling the challenge head-on. “I’m most excited about trying harder problems and learning new techniques and ideas,” he said. “Even if I'm not able to solve the more difficult problems, I find it very enjoyable to explore their setups and see what I can observe. I look forward to doing a lot of that in the next few months.”

The team is coached by former teammate Wesley Hung ‘24 (CoE Computer Science), who reflected: “I'm really proud of David, Ezra, and Om for qualifying for the ICPC World Finals. I've seen them practicing very diligently for months leading up to both the regional and national competitions, and I'm very happy to see their hard work pay off.”

"I'm incredibly proud of Ezra, Om, and David," said CCS Dean and CoE computer science professor Timothy Sherwood. "After advancing through the Southern California regional and then National competitions, the ICPC World competition is the biggest possible stage for these creative problem solvers! I also love that all three of our undergraduate serving colleges (CCS, Engineering, and L&S) are represented on one team. That is wonderfully representative of the collaborative spirit that makes UCSB so wonderful and unique."

"I love that all three of our undergraduate serving colleges (CCS, Engineering, and L&S) are represented on one team. That is wonderfully representative of the collaborative spirit that makes UCSB so wonderful and unique."

—Timothy Sherwood, Dean, College of Creative Studies

One of the team’s defining moments came late in the contest, when a breakthrough on a difficult interactive problem secured their place at the cutoff for World Finals qualification. Live reaction footage from that moment captures the team’s real-time problem-solving and collaboration. A full recording of the team’s submissions is available here.

As the team heads to Dubai this November, they will compete at the World Finals, representing UC Santa Barbara in the final round of competition.