ASA DataFest 2022 at Notre Dame

 ASA DataFest 2022 will take place at the University of Notre Dame on March 18th - March 20th.  We are continuously monitoring the Covid-19 health situation on campus, but for now, the event is scheduled to be held in person.  We hope to be able to invite our neighbors at IUSB, Holy Cross and St. Mary's to join us as well.

Event Details

When:  March 18 - March 20
Where: Hayes-Healy Basement
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On Friday we will start with a reception where your surprise client will give a brief introduction to the data you will be working with over the weekend and tell you a bit about what they would like to get out of it. The data will likely be much more complex than what you are used to seeing in your classes, and you will be given free reign to analyze it however you like. In other words, you will come up with a research question that is of interest to you, and conduct the appropriate analysis to answer your question. But you are welcomed, and encouraged, to take cues from the client's introduction when shaping your research question(s).

Groups will submit short video presentations and our judges will take about week to decide on our winners. Each team will give a brief (6 minute) presentation of their findings to a panel of judges comprised of faculty and professionals from a variety of fields. There will be prizes in many categories, such as best visualization, best use of external data, and best findings. A finalized list of categories will be announced at the beginning of the competition.

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What is DataFest?

ASA DataFest is a data analysis competition where teams of of two to five students attack a large, complex, and surprise dataset over a weekend. Your job is to represent your school by finding and communicating insights into these data. The teams that impress the judges will win prizes as well as glory for their school. DataFest is a great learning opportunity and lots of fun!

ASA DataFest is also a great opportunity to gain experience that employers are looking for. Having worked on a data analysis problem at this scale will certainly help make you a good candidate for any position that involves analysis and critical thinking, and it will provide a concrete example to demonstrate your experience during interviews.

ASA DataFest at Notre Dame is organized by the Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics Department.

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Testimonials

While ASA DataFest is a competition, the main goal of the event is to promote collaboration. Here are some testimonials from past participants:

It was a great experience, with a fun and interesting challenge. One of my favorite parts is how varied the presentations and projects from each team are. I love learning about ways in which others looked at and analyzed the same problem/ data.
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​DataFest was an awesome experience. To me, the best part was working in a team of friends that I usually hung out with, but had not had a chance to work together intensively on a project. We enjoyed analyzing the situations and solving problems together for our client. At the end of the day, we just got to know each other better. It was also fun to interact with other teams to explore other approaches while keeping in mind that we were in competition. The fact that we were given a huge amount of data really challenges us to come up with creative and practical approaches. Another important part was the presentation. Every team had to explain well to the judges their objectives and solutions. Our team won the Best Visualization award which is really awesome. Lastly, the food was fantastic.

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