Students from SVC’s Data Science & Analytics club attend RMU’s Data Fest

LATROBE, PA – Students from SVC's Data Science & Analytics (DSA) Club participated in Robert Morris University's annual Data Fest April 11 through 13. This is the DSA Club's second consecutive year participating

A national student competition sponsored by the American Statistical Association and centered on building student data analysis and visualization skills, Data Fest has been held annually since 2011. Each year, a variety of host institutions all hold parallel events, using the same data and prompt, over weekends from March through May. Robert Morris has hosted a local competition of Data Fest since 2021.

This year, a team of four students from SVC participated, including Chaely Raynor, freshman data science major frome Cleveland; Timothy Gorman, business data analytics major from North Patomac, MD; Mariano Jimenez, senior mathematics & finance major from Latrobe; and Ethan Dunsey, a graduating senior business data analytics major from Pittsburgh. The students participated virtually in the kickoff ceremony on Friday evening, during which they were introduced to the data, goal and rules. They then had until Sunday morning to analyze the data and create a short presentation. On Sunday, the group traveled to Robert Morris, accompanied by Drs. Justin Petrovich, C’14, and Mary Regina Boland, C’10, to present alongside dozens of other student groups from Robert Morris and Duquesne University. After a weekend of hard work, the SVC team came away with the Judge's Choice Award in the upper track division of the competition. Dr. Petrovich also served as a judge and contributed a tutorial to the pre-competition workshop, while Dr. Boland also served as a mentor for participating teams throughout the weekend.

Data Fest is just one of several activities organized by the DSA Club. Other noteworthy activities include trips to Carnegie Mellon University's annual Sports Analytics Conference, career panels and guest lectures from researchers and professionals in the field of data science or analytics, and more. The Club is co-advised by Dr. Boland and Dr. Petrovich and, while most members major in data science, business data analytics or have a minor in data analytics, it is open to all students and geared towards all who are curious about learning with data.

Any student interested in the DSA Club or majoring in Data Science or Business Data Analytics should contact either Dr. Justin Petrovich or Dr. Mary Regina Boland.