Thank you for participating in DataFest 2024
Keep an eye out for announcements for next year
About DataFest
The American Statistical Association (ASA) DataFest™ is a celebration of data in which student teams work around the clock to find and share meaning in a large, rich, and complex dataset.
ASA DataFest™ was founded at UCLA in 2011 when 30 students gathered for 48 intense hours to help fight crime through an analysis of every arrest record of the last 5 years as provided by Lt. Thomas Zak of the Los Angeles Police Department. ASA DataFest™ is now sponsored by the American Statistical Association and is hosted by some of the most prestigious colleges and universities worldwide.
The Department of Statistics began hosting ASA DataFest™ at Penn State in 2015.
Who may participate?
ASA DataFest™ at Penn State University is open to all Undergraduate and Master’s Degree students at Penn State University, as well as those from surrounding colleges and universities. Doctoral students may not compete in the event but are encouraged to sign up as a Mentor if interested.
There is no fee to participate.
Students compete in teams of 3 to 5. Penn State DataFest will host a team building mixer event in February of 2024 if you do not have a team in mind.
Registration
Each individual participating in ASA DataFest™ must submit a registration. If you form your own team, each member of your team must register separately and include the team name on the form. Registration is limited to the first 300 people!
During the event
Mentors will be available throughout the weekend to help you as you work through the data. Support and communication will also be provided via the Nittany Data Labs Discord server.
Note that you do NOT need to be present the entire weekend to participate; you may come and go as you please, but we ask that you be there for the event kick-off on Friday and for the presentations and award ceremony on Sunday.
Rules
- Before downloading the dataset, you must agree to the terms of use and entering your name and email address during registration. At the end of DataFest, delete all data from thumb drives, hard drives, etc. The data are sensitive
- There will be a friendly consultant present at all times between 9:00 am – 6:00 pm. These are faculty or grad students. Feel free to ask anything. This is not an exam, but a collaborative competition. Do not expect the Consultants to write code for you, do data management, etc. They are there to help point you in the right direction, but you’re responsible for getting there on your own.
Judging and Prizes
Each team must present a short 3-minute video summarizing their findings to a panel of judges comprised of faculty and professionals from a variety of fields. Presentations are judged based on creativity, insight, visualization, and communication.
Resources
Looking for tools to sharpen your skills? We have compiled a list of current resources you may find useful: Statistics Related Resources.