Volunteering at this event was deeply rewarding, offering an opportunity to support advancements in AI that positively impact society and drive economic progress. The professionals and academic researchers pictured here represent elite institutions—including Carnegie Mellon, UMass Amherst (highly ranked for computer science), Amherst College, and Brown University—as well as leading tech companies such as those within FAAMG.
The mission of DataFest is to expose undergraduate students to challenging questions with immediate real-world significance that can be addressed through data analysis. By working in teams, students with varying skill sets will combine their efforts and expand their collective data analysis horizons. Interaction among students, as well as with outside consultants, will promote the sense that data analysis is a dynamic, engaging, and vibrant part of our society, as well as a realistic, practical, and fun career path.
In 2017 I was a DataFest participant, and the data at the time was from Expedia - travel and vacation information. Then five years later I landed a job working for Expedia on the actual datasets. In addition to advising the teams this weekend, I actually put in work to develop Python and R code, and a Tableau dashboard because I never like to advise other people on work that I can't do myself. This year, the prize went to Mount Holyoke.