2017 Data Derby – Minnesota State Winners
Minnesota State IT Center of Excellence Data Analytics Competition
St. Paul, Minnesota, May 8, 2017 – On Saturday, April 8, 2017, Advance IT Minnesota launched the 2017 Data Derby Minnesota at Hennepin Technical College (Eden Prairie Campus). The Data Derby is an annual multi-disciplinary competition, open to undergraduate and graduate students, attending Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Students are encouraged to collaborate in teams, compete and present data-driven solutions to defined problems and societal challenges.
The Data Derby challenge provides students the opportunity to showcase their data mining, analytical and strategizing skills. Teams are allowed to use any openly available tools and/sor applications such as spreadsheets, analytics and programming language (Java, Python, SQL, etc). In 2016, 18 Student Team participated as well as over 20 faculty members and industry guests.
This year’s keynote speakers were Justin Richie, Director of Data Science at Adtitud and Paul Wickman, Technology Director, GIS at RESPEC. Both keynotes emphasised the need for innovative and inquiring minds as it relates to solving world problems through data. Their passion to assist and further the understanding of data analytics and science was well received.
The competition was comprised of two challenge events:
Congratulations to all the participants on a job well done and especially the winners for their data analytic skills! This year’s winners were:
Datathon
1st Place
Normandale Community College
Kevin Cunningham, Peter Olson, and Shanta Hejmadi
2nd Place
University of MN, Duluth
Marcus Walker, Myra Garlid, Courtney Struckman, and Nicole Randt
3rd Place
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Yun Ha Seo, YoonJoung S. Suter, Sunkyeong Lee, and Eun hye Lee
Honorable Mention
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Alycia Holwerda, Parker Scott, Ana Konatar, and Brandon Haan
Datagon
1st Place
Metropolitan State University
Jim Furey, Solan Tolessa, and Tosin Omidiora
2nd Place
University of MN, Duluth
Marcus Walker, Myra Garlid, Courtney Struckman, and Nicole Randt
3rd Place
North Hennepin Community College
Ravinder Pratap Singh and Alan Vang
Honorable Mention
Lake Superior College
Lucas Shanley and Dakota Trumbull
About Advance IT Minnesota
Advance IT Minnesota was founded in 2006. It’s purpose is to position Minnesota as a top-ten regional economy for information technology careers as measured by total IT-related employment. It’s doing so by addressing the talent needs of IT employers, enhancing career success for IT students and alumni and doing it’s best to increase enrollment in IT programs. To learn more about Advance IT Minnesota, visit www.advanceitmn.org.