UH Hilo students place first in ACM Intercollegiate Programming Site Contest
A total of 15 teams from UH Hilo, Hawaiʻi Pacific University, and Brigham Young University-Hawaiʻi participated in the Hawaiʻi site competition, which was held on the UH Hilo campus for the first time.

A team of computer science students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo participated in the Association for Computing Machinery’s Intercollegiate Programming Contest held Nov. 16, 2024 and won the Division II site championship award.
UH Hilo’s Division II team of Nolan Brophy, Carina de Pillis-Shintaku, and Melodi Harada Solmerin took home the site championship award. They also placed 41st in the Pacific Northwest Region.
UH Hilo’s team of Marianne Martinez, Sebastian Carter, and Joseph Winkie won the bronze medal.
The contest began in 1977 and is considered to be the oldest and most prestigious programming contest in the world. UH Hilo has participated in the contest since 2004.

“This year 154 teams took part in the Pacific Northwest Regional representing schools from Hawaiʻi, California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia,” says Keith Edwards, UH Hilo professor of computer science and the team’s advisor.
“A total of 15 teams from UH Hilo, Hawaiʻi Pacific University, and Brigham Young University-Hawaiʻi participated in the Hawaiʻi site competition, which was held on the UH Hilo campus for the first time. Teams of three students had five hours and one computer to solve 10-12 complex programming problems.”
UH Hilo’s teams were coached by Professor Edwards, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Winston Wu, Associate Professor of Mathematics Ramon Figueroa-Centeno, and education graduate student Allan Simeon Jr. Computer science specialist Francis Cristobal assisted with technical support.
“It was great to see everyone come together and spend a day working on problems regardless of who won,” says Edward.