Three UVic students and NSERC CREATE in Quantum Computing Program Scholars with a shared passion for quantum computing recently joined forces to win three categories in an international competition.
Tristan Zaborniak, Juan Giraldo and Saasha Joshi – all Masters students in computer science – were among hundreds of experts and enthusiasts from around the world who participated in QHack 2022.
The online competition included a series of increasingly difficult coding challenges that took place over 11 days, followed by a five-day open hackathon. Toronto-based Xanadu Quantum Technologies, which runs the annual competition, said 3,280 people and 800 teams signed up, representing more than 100 countries.
“We were looking to sharpen our quantum problem-solving abilities, showcase some original work, and possibly win prizes,” says Zaborniak. “Our group entered as team Qnyble and of the 13 hackathon challenges, we were awarded first place in three.”
Each of the challenges was sponsored by a leading company in the quantum field and came with its own prizes – including internships, mentorships, free access to top quantum computing platforms, laptops and headsets.
Hackathon projects were judged according to three criteria: scientific and technical ability; presentation quality; and depth of use of the quantum computing software and hardware stack.