The month-long 2024 TAMIDS Student Data Science Competition was concluded in the final event on April 18, 2024. This year’s topic was the Impact of Sea Level Rise. Eight teams were selected to present to the judges and prizes totaling $9,500 were awarded to the winning teams. The competition received generous support from Chevron, and the Texas A&M University Departments of Statistics and Electrical & Computer Engineering.
The Sea Level Rise Challenge
One of the most pressing challenges created by climate change is rising sea levels. Sea Level Rise (SLR) threatens millions of US citizens who live in coastal regions. By the end of the century, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) experts anticipate the sea level to rise an additional 12 inches (0.3 meters) or more above sea level. The Texas A&M Institute of Data Science created the Sea Level Rise Data Challenge to give students the opportunity to come up with innovative solutions to complex, real-world problems. Contestants were expected to identify a community, service, or infrastructure that is impacted by SLR and provide actionable advice to decision-makers based on their analysis. The two main components of this challenge include:
- Predicting SLR Impact: SLR is influenced by a complex interplay of factors, and its impact can vary from location to location. This variation makes it challenging to develop regional models and forecasting tools.
- Communication with End-users: Climate change research and SLR are contentious and often polarizing topics. Researchers need to effectively communicate their findings to end-users such as facility managers, policymakers, and the public in a convincing and trustworthy manner.
The Winning Undergraduate Teams
First Place: DSE – Sophia Zhong, Biomedical Sciences. ($2,000 Prize)
“When addressing rising sea levels, efforts focus on two major scopes: mitigating consequences and preventing further rising sea levels. The relationship between rising sea levels and environmental impacts, specifically hurricanes and flooding, is well documented. The scope of this project focuses on the natural disasters that will intensify as a result of rising sea levels and the communities that will experience these changes. My project and data analysis seeks to identify vulnerable communities to support awareness and preparation, thus mitigating the impact of rising sea levels.”
Second Place: Data Surfers – Madeline Shah, Data Engineering. Nicholas Battin, General Engineering. Kyeongseo Choi, General Engineering. ($1,000 Prize)
“This project aims to address the pressing issue of the loss of local businesses due to rising coastlines by developing a predictive model for future sea level trends, focusing on the rising coastlines of New York. The number of small businesses per New York county will be used within the model to estimate the potential impact of sea level rise on local New York businesses by the year 2030; specifically, which areas are at risk of being submerged. By analyzing historical sea level data along the Eastern US Coast, the team seeks to forecast the extent of coastal land loss and identify specific regions where small businesses are at risk.”
Third Place: Penguins – Anjana Mittal, Statistics. Victoria Cicherski, Statistics. ($500 Prize)
“Sea level rise is influenced by an intricate interplay of factors that are unique to each part of the world. Our project seeks to address the impact of sea level rise within San Francisco and how it influences the community and environment of the Bay Area. Our report details the use of advanced machine-learning methods and predictive analytics to prevent and reduce the consequences of sea level rise on a community and environment. An efficient approach to minimizing the harmful effects of sea level rise is through prediction. To achieve this, we utilized sea level change and different types of flooding data for California from multiple sources.”
The Winning Graduate Teams
First Place: SeaSense – Debasish Mishra, Biological & Agricultural Engineering. Sonali Sahani, MBA and Analytics. ($2,000 Prize)
“Our overarching objective is to investigate to what extent sea level anomalies contribute to both dry (relating to drought) and wet (relating to flood) soil moisture anomalies. This study focuses on quantifying the impact and spatial extent of such anomalies in ecoregions of the Gulf of Mexico.”
Second Place: Harbingers – Anshul Yadav, Civil and Environmental Engineering. Chi Hsiang Huang, Water Management and Hydrological Science. Deep Shah, Civil and Environmental Engineering. ($1,000 Prize)
Our study evaluates the implications of Sea Level Rise (SLR) on the southern United States, pinpointing the exacerbating factors of climate change.
“Our analysis reveals that the area affected by saltwater intrusion is projected to expand under various future scenarios, significantly impacting freshwater availability in the coming years. Through meticulous quantitative analysis and an operational tool in the form of a Google Earth Engine (GEE) app, our work underlines the dire need for comprehensive measures to mitigate the multifaceted challenges posed by SLR.“
Third Place: ARM – Sharmin Majumder, Electrical Engineering. Nafiz Abeer, Electrical Engineering. Musfira Rahman, Civil Engineering. ($500 Prize)
“The growing impacts of climate change have underscored the need to understand Mean Sea Level (MSL) rise, particularly along the US East and Gulf coasts. The sea level rise dynamics behave differently for the southeast and northeast parts of the US coast. This report presents an analysis of historical tide gauge records from 1900 to 2021 to understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of MSL rise along the northeast and southeast coats and Gulf coasts and its socio-economic implications on coastal communities.”
Third Place: Despacito – Cristhian Roman, Computer Engineering. Hailiang Hu, Computer Engineering. Swarnabha Roy, Computer Engineering. Souryendu Das, Computer Engineering. ($500 Prize)
“This project addresses the escalating issue of sea-level rise due to global warming and glacier melt, focusing on its disproportionate effects on the United States coastal areas. It specifically investigates how these environmental changes threaten infrastructure, displace populations in key coastal cities, and impact the national and local economies, especially in terms of GDP contributions from affected regions.“
Third Place: Khanabadosh – Sambandh Bhusan Dhal, Electrical and Computer Engineering. Vivekvardhan Kesireddy, Petroleum Engineering. Tushar Pandey, Mathematics. Sheelabhadra Dey, Computer Science and Engineering. Rishabh Singh, Biological and Agricultural Engineering. ($500 Prize)
“The increase in global sea levels (SLR) stands as a pivotal indicator of climate change, closely tied to the global temperature rise. This surge primarily stems from ocean water expansion due to heat because of greenhouse gas emissions, and the melting of glaciers and ice caps. This report underscores the significance of comprehending the factors impacting sea levels across diverse spatial scales, alongside the associated uncertainties.”
Special Team Prizes
- Best Use of Additional Data: DSE – Sophia Zhong
- Best Presentation Design: SeaSense – Debasish Mishra and Sonali Sahani
- Best Supplementary Materials: Harbingers – Anshul Yadav, Chi Hsiang Huang, and Deep Shah
Sponsorship
TAMIDS gratefully acknowledges support for the 2024 Data Science Competition from Chevron and the Texas A&M Departments of Statistics and Electrical & Computer Engineering.
