The Data Science Competition is Moving Online
The final event on April 22 and the working session on April 1 will be held via zoom ( https://tamu.zoom.us ). Arrangements will be announced shortly.
In their work preparing submissions for the April 8 deadline, competitors should conduct team meetings online only, using e.g. zoom, in the same manner as class participation under current university policies
Materials from Information Session 2/19/2020
- Summary presentation by Dr. Nick Duffield, TAMIDS (pdf presentation)
- Talk on experiences from competing in the 2019 Data Science Competition by Josiah Coad, TAMU Datathon (Video, 35 minutes)
Overview
In this year’s Data Science Competition, students will use airline data from the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics to develop performance measures for airlines and models to forecast expected performance. Students are encouraged to identify one or more performance measures that they would like to model. Examples include:
- Customer satisfaction implied from travel delays, lost baggage, or other service metrics.
- Business performance measured by net income
Students should not feel limited to these measures, and the competition provides them with the opportunity to showcase novel insights and analyses of the data.
Competition
Students will work in teams composed of 1 to 5 members. The competition will be split into two divisions: one for graduate students and one for undergraduate students. Any team that contains at least one graduate student will be assigned to the graduate division. Teams have the option of using a faculty mentor to facilitate problem solving (competition judges are not allowed to mentor teams). Contestants will have five weeks to complete their analysis and submit a written report. From these entries, judges will select the finalist teams who will present their analysis in-person at a final event at which the ultimate winning teams will be decided and announced.
Evaluation
Team projects will be evaluated on elements of their analysis including methods used, level of depth, and correctness, as well as creativity and presentations skills.
Eligibility
This competition is open to both graduate and undergraduate students from all majors at Texas A&M University. Competitors must be enrolled as a student at Texas A&M University during the Spring 2020 semester.
Getting Started
- Form a team of up to 5 people; all members must register by March 3, 2020 at https://forms.gle/XeMMj4CzpNYRHgZc8
- Read and follow the detailed guidelines below
- Contact Ms. Jennifer South at jsouth@tamu.edu with any concerns
- Have fun, and best wishes for success!
Detailed Guidelines
Competition Process
2020 TAMIDS Data Science Competition comprises five phases as follows:
Stage 1: Registration and configuration
Competitors will register using the form https://forms.gle/XeMMj4CzpNYRHgZc8 and acknowledge their understanding and intent to follow the rules of the competition. Registration will open on Wednesday, February 12, 2020 and close on March 3, 2020 at 11:59 pm CT. All team members must individually register by end March 3, 2020, otherwise they will not be included in the competition.
An information session will be held on February 19, 2020, 6-8pm in the ILSB Auditorium. This is open to all, registered or not.
Stage 2: Team solution development
Instructions and information concerning the data set will be sent to competitors the TAMU email addresses provided by team members on March 4, 2020.
A working session to provide procedural advice for registered competitors will be held online only on April 1, 2020, 6:00pm-9:00pm, hosted by TAMU Datathon
Stage 3: Report and submission period
Submissions should be in the form of a report in PDF format. The main body of the report should not exceed 20 pages. Additional pages in the form of appendices (which should include your code, your model output, and associated plots), are allowed and encouraged. Please ensure that the body of the report includes a discussion of the steps you took to produce your final models and visualizations. Please ensure that the appendices are numbered and referred to in the report. Please ensure that the report is self-contained and includes an introduction and an executive summary. Reports will be submitted through e-campus by the deadline of April 8, 2020 at 11:59 pm.
Stage 4: Selection of finalists
After the close of the submission period, judges will review all entries and select participants to advance to the final round of the competition. Finalist teams will be notified through email by April 15, 2020.
Stage 5: Final presentations, evaluation, and prize awards
Finalist teams will prepare a presentation for in-person delivery of their findings and solutions to the judging panel at the final online only event on April 22, 2020, 6-9pm. Judges will review and select the winning teams based on their written report and presentation. The competition winners will be announced at the final event.
Prizes
Graduate Division:
- First Placed Team: $1500.00
- Second Paced Team: $1000.00
- Third Placed Team: $500.00
Undergraduate Division:
- First Placed Team: $1500.00
- Second Paced Team: $1,000.00
- Third Placed Team: $500.00
Timeline
- February 12, 2020: Registration opens at https://forms.gle/XeMMj4CzpNYRHgZc8
- February 19, 2020: Information session, 6-8pm in the ILSB Auditorium
- March 3, 2020: Registration closes 11:59pm
- March 4, 2020: Data available on eCampus and competition begins
- April 1, 2020: Working session, 6-8pm online only (details to be announced)
- April 8, 2020: Submission deadline 11:59pm
- April 15, 2020: Finalists announced
- April 22, 2020: Final presentations and awards, 6-9pm online only (details to be announced)
Contact
Please contact Ms. Jennifer South at jsouth@tamu.edu with any questions or concerns
Support
TAMIDS acknowledges the generous support of Revionics, the Texas A&M University Departments of Statistics and Industrial and Systems Engineering and of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
