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Faculty of Engineering and Computing

Young Irish Talent to Compete at International Programming Olympiad

After several rigorous selection rounds and a 3-day bootcamp at DCU, Team Ireland has been chosen to attend the prestigious International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).

Essentially the Olympics of high school computer programming, the IOI is attended by over 80 countries showcasing their brightest young talent. Four teenagers from the around the country will travel on a trip of a lifetime to meet up with over 300 students from around the world at the 27th IOI in Almaty, Kazakhstan at the end of July. They’ve come a long way to reach this stage and it’s testament to their passion and commitment to programming.

This is the final stage of the All-Ireland Programming Olympiad (AIPO) which is sponsored by Fidelity Investments and hosted by the School of Computing, DCU. The lucky students who will represent Ireland at the IOI in Kazakhstan are:

  • Áron Hoffman, Luttrellstown Community College, Dublin
  • Daniel Mulcahy, Gonzaga College, Dublin
  • Noah Donnelly, Our Lady's Secondary, Monaghan
  • Teofil Camarasu, Dundalk Grammar School, Louth

During the 3 day bootcamp the teenagers got to take some time out from the intense algorithmic problem solving to visit the Fidelity Investments’ offices in Citywest, where they took a tour of the building and listened to former DCU graduates and intra students talk about life in the working world and future career opportunities in technology.

Tadhg O’Shea, vice president of software engineering/development management at Fidelity Investments Ireland said ‘Fidelity is very proud to be sponsoring this event and it was wonderful to host these talented young students at our offices in Dublin for an evening. We wish the Irish team all the best at IOI in Kazakhstan in July’.

They also got to enjoy a taste of the DCU university life by staying in campus residence over the 3 days with one of the evenings being pizza night and the Arduino Robot challenge. This challenge emulates what students of DCU’s innovative new undergraduate degree, Computational Problem Solving and Software Development (CPSSD) would be facing in their first year of study.

Gary Conway, who manages the AIPO, said

‘There was a great camaraderie among the students this year on the training camp.  They had a lot of fun over the three days and with one of the AIPO’s mission goals being to ‘promote contact between these young programmers across Ireland’, I hope there will be friendships made here and at the IOI that will last a lifetime’.

DCU School of Computing and Fidelity Investments wish Team Ireland the best of luck representing their country at the IOI in Kazakhstan. Updates will be posted to our Facebook page (facebook.com/DCU.AIPO) and Twitter (@DCU_AIPO).

 For further information contact:

DCU                                                    
Gary Conway                                           
+353-1-7005648                          
Gary.Conway@dcu.ie           

Fidelity Investments
Elaine Harney
+353-1-6145493
Elaine.Harney@fmr.com

AIPO website – http://aipo.computing.dcu.ie/ 
IOI website - http://ioi2015.kz/
Fidelity Investments Ireland - http://www.fidelityinvestments.ie/