Robert Chung grew up in Scarborough, hooked on coding by an old Visual Basic book his dad gave him. A middle-school mentor at Woburn Collegiate Institute, who had represented Canada internationally, pointed him further down that road.
At UTSC he double-majored in mathematics and computer science, competing through ICPC regionals and North American championships to reach the World Finals in Baku, Azerbaijan. At Professor Nick Cheng's encouragement, he also became a teaching assistant for CSCB36.
When something feels hard, don’t shy away – lean into it,Robert Chung
First-Year Influences
He credits mathematics professors Parker Glynn-Adey and Kathleen Smith as early influences, and spent the pandemic taking up competitive speed typing, ranking among the top typists on competitive platforms worldwide.
He graduated with both the Governor General's Silver Medal and the John Black Aird Scholarship, awarded to U of T's top graduating student — but he missed his own June convocation, having already started as a quantitative trading intern in New York City.
Reported from Top graduating student Robert Chung finds joy in solving hard problems, by Don Campbell (U of T Alumni News, September 16, 2026).
More from the original reporting: alumni.utoronto.ca/news/top-graduating-student-robert-chung-finds-joy-solving-hard-problems