Second Place in the PACE Challenge for a Team of AC Group Researchers

The Parameterized Algorithms and Computational Experiments (PACE) Challenge takes place annually as part of the International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC) to deepen the relationship between parameterized algorithms and practice. The results of the 2025 iteration were presented in Warsaw, Poland, as part of  ALGO 2025 from September 15-19. PACE 2025 featured two classic algorithmic problems, Dominating Set and Hitting Set. In a total of four tracks, an exact as well as a heuristic one, practical solutions to these two NP-hard problems were solicited.

picture of the winning team with their certificates and medals

Second-place winners Simon D. Fink, Alexander Dobler, and Mathis Rocton (from left to right)

The solver submitted by Alexander Dobler, Simon D. Fink and Mathis Rocton made a very close second place in both exact tracks. Their code and more information on their solver can be found on GitHub, and the full standings can be found here.

Congratulations to our successful team!