Nouhad Rizk
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Nouhad Rizk

Competitions

The Department of Computer Science hosts at least two competitions: the annual ICPC competition and the UH AI Hackathon. Below are brief overviews of each competition.

ICPC-Style Competition

  • Overview: The International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) Foundation hosts a global competition in competitive programming. UH hosts its own competition in the style of the ICPC on an annual basis, in collaboration with IEEE-NSM, the university's premier competitive coding club.
  • Eligibility: Open to all students attending the University of Houston. We recommend at least a general understanding of data structures and/or programming algorithms. Those who would excel at this event are those who practice competitive coding.
  • Team Composition:
    • Students can opt to participate in a solo event or team event.
    • Each team can have at most three participants.
    • Cross-disciplinary teams, with diverse skill sets, are encouraged.
  • Judging Criteria: Problem sets will be hosted via 3rd party competitive coding websites, where participants can upload their solution file. After passing all test cases, the problem will be considered solved. The participant with the most number of questions solved by the end of the competition will be the winner(s).
  • Restrictions: The competition is strictly closed-internet, meaning that you won't have access to LLMs or sites such as GitHub or Stack Overflow. The exception is that you may access your coding language of choice's official documentation, to assist in syntax and implementation of any functions you may need.

Click here to register as a volunteer for the ICPC-Style Competition.

UH AI Hackathon

  • Overview: Dr. Rizk is proud to present the UH AI Hackathon, which offers students the opportunity to implement solutions to a curated problem set of data science related challenges.
  • Eligibility: Open to all students attending the University of Houston. We recommend a general understanding of data science, which is a series of courses that UH offers under Dr. Rizk only. Students who would excel at this competition are knowledgeable on the basics of AI/ML, CNNs, Linear Regression, and other core data science topics.
  • Team Composition:
    • Students can opt to participate individually or as a team.
    • Each team can have at most three participants.
    • Cross-disciplinary teams, with diverse skill sets, are encouraged.
  • Judging Criteria: Problem sets will be hosted via 3rd party competitive coding websites, where participants can upload their solution file. The participant(s) and/or team(s) with the most problems solved and the greatest accuracy with their solutions will be the winner(s).
  • Restrictions: The competition is strictly closed-internet, meaning that you won't have access to LLMs or sites such as GitHub or Stack Overflow. The exception is that you may bring printed documentation regarding data science in any capacity, including past projects or examples with fully coded solutions.

Click here to register as a volunteer for the UH AI Hackathon.

General Rules

  • Original Work and Data Usage:
    • The work should be completed before the deadline and should not have been submitted previously as a class project or to another competition.
    • Pre-existing code or datasets are allowed, provided they are publicly available and appropriately credited.
    • If external datasets are used, they should be publicly accessible, and participants must adhere to the terms of use.
  • Tools & Software:
    • Participants can utilize any legally licensed tools, libraries, or frameworks.
  • Intellectual Property:
    • Unless stated otherwise, participants retain the rights to their projects. However, the organizing body may request permission to highlight or promote projects for marketing purposes.
  • Code of Conduct:
    • Participants are expected to maintain a respectful and inclusive environment. Any form of discrimination, harassment, or unethical behavior will result in immediate disqualification.       
  • Mentorship:
    • Seeking guidance from mentors is encouraged. However, mentors should not directly contribute code or perform core data analysis. 
  • Modification of Rules and Decision Finality:
    • The organizing committee reserves the right to modify rules or judging criteria as needed, with any changes communicated in advance.
    • Decisions made by the judging panel are final and binding.  
  • Awards:
    • Awards will be medallions and bragging-rights for the individuals and/or teams who place in the top three spots of their respective events.

Conclusion

The competitions that UH hosts provide an invaluable platform for aspiring researchers to demonstrate their skills, creativity, and dedication to advancing knowledge in programming, data science, AI, and cybersecurity. We look forward to your participation and the opportunity to celebrate the remarkable achievements of the next generation of innovators.