PSUT snatches first place in world in IEEEXtreme coding competition

AMMAN — Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT) snatched first place in the world, in addition to other advanced positions, in the annual IEEEXtreme Programming Competition, which is organised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), according to a PSUT statement. 

The university came out victorious in the competition, which witnessed the participation of 4,555 teams representing prestigious international universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Illinois, the University of California, Berkeley, from the US, McGill University from Canada, among others, the statement said. 

PSUT has consistently participated in this competition and last year won fourth and sixth places globally, also coming first in the Arab world for six consecutive years.

PSUT came first in the world through the team “Aurora”, consisting of Muhammad Abu Abboud, Hamza Zagha and Motasem Al Kayed, who are all studying in the King Hussein School of Computing Sciences.

HRH Princess Sumaya, Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, congratulated the winning teams. 

The princess praised the efforts of the students and their supervisors, and their continuous endeavours to hone their academic and practical skills, the statement said.

 PSUT President Mashhoor Al Refai said: “This victory brings into reality the vision and aspirations of HRH Princess Sumaya Bint El Hassan of placing the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on the map of technologically advanced countries.” 

He pointed out that the princess was monitoring the participating teams’ progress throughout the 24-hour competition, which increased their determination to attain this well-deserved high placing.

Of the 11 teams representing PSUT in the competition, the following took advanced positions:

10th place: the team competing under the name “maxFlowWhiteBeard”, comprising students Abdullah Al Mansour, Muhammad Al Kilani and Ahmed Jaber.

78th place: “Fractured but Whole” with students Omar Al Asir, Ahmed Hamouda, and Laith Al Saqqa.

79th place: “Golden Wind”, consisting of Amal Taha, Dima Arafat, Abdulaziz Hamdan.

101st place: PSUT “Shadow’ team component consists of: Shahd Al Mishni, Zeina Al Mishni  and Hamzah Ziada.

All teams prepared under the supervision, training and follow-up of the School’s Dean Ashraf Ahmed, and  Firas Ghanem.

IEEEXtreme is a global programming competition, in which programmers who are student members of the IEEE organisation from all around the world take part. 

During the competition period, a problem is set every hour for the participants to solve and overcome. 

The IEEE, established in 1963, is a private, non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation concerned with developing and innovating the latest electrical and electronics technologies in the world, according to the statement.

PSUT won the gold and bronze medals in the Arab Programming Competition for the Middle East and Africa with the participation of 1,500 contestants representing 200 educational institutions from 30 countries in the spring of this year. 

The university also won the title of champion of the MENA region in ACM’s International Collegiate Programming Contest 2018, and just a few days ago, was awarded five stars in the international QS Stars Ratings.