Five students from George Mason University's American Statistical Association chapter attended the 2016 DC DataFest on April 8-10. The weekend-long competition encourages undergraduate students from a wide variety of disciplines to find new and innovative ways of analyzing big data.
Undergraduate students do the work themselves at DataFest, but graduate students, faculty and industry professionals are available throughout the weekend for assistance. After two days of intense data wrangling, analysis and presentation design, each team is allowed no more than five minutes and 2-3 powerpoint slides to impress a panel of judges.
This year's judges included Stephanie Eckman from RTI International, Joy Hackenbracht from Pew Trusts, Michael Sinclair from Mathematica Policy Research, Celeste Stone from American Institutes for Research, and Rick Valliant from the University of Michigan and University of Maryland's Joint Program in Survey Methodology department.
The 2016 DC DataFest is sponsored by Summit Consulting, University of Maryland Alumni Association, The Joint Program in Survey Methodology, Google, Pew Research Center, D.C. American Association for Public Opinion Research, Mathematica Policy Research and the Washington Statistical Society.
Seven teams from five different schools attended the 2016 DC DataFest:
George Mason University, Team GMU ASA
University of Maryland, Team PowerBison/Terp Soup
Howard University, Team PowerBison/Terp Soup
Montclair State University, Team RedHawks
George Washington University, Teams Stat Attack, Mooncake, ANOVA's Witnesses, Euclid's Ladies
"DataFest gave me a chance to use skills I've learned in both my statistics and computer science courses, and better understand the work of a real-world data scientist." says, junior, computer science student, Sam Brady.
"As an aspiring data scientist, DataFest has taught me what skills are most in-demand right now in the field of data science. I am more motivated than ever to contribute more to the field." says senior, Economics student, Amen Houenouvi.
The team included: Mo Abouissa, senior majoring in Information Systems and Operations Management with a minor in Data Analysis; Sam Brady, junior majoring in Computer Science; Amen Houenouvi, senior majoring in Economics with a minor in Data Analysis; Vinh Mai, sophomore majoring in Economics with minors in Mathematics and Data Analysis; and Leanna Moron, junior majoring in Human Development and Family Science with a minor in Statistics. Leanna also serves as the founder/president of George Mason's ASA chapter.