About DataFest

What Is ASA DataFest^TM?

American Statistical Association (ASA) DataFest^TM is a celebration of data in which teams of undergraduates work "around the clock" to discover and share meaning in a large, rich, and complex data set. It is a nationally coordinated weekend-long data analysis competition and challenges students to find their own story to tell with the data that is meaningful to the data donor.

The event was founded at UCLA in 2011, when 30 students gathered for 48 intense hours to analyze five years of arrest records provided by Lt. Thomas Zak of the Los Angeles Police Department. It is now sponsored by ASA and is hosted by several colleges and universities around the United States and Canada. Hard-working undergraduate students in any major are welcome.

Students work in teams of two to five to analyze a data set, which will be revealed at the opening kickoff of the DataFest at Mizzou event. After two days of intense data wrangling, analysis, and presentation design, each team is allowed a short presentation to impress a panel of judges. Participations are nation-wide but the competition is organized separately in each region.

There will be friendly faculty and grad students as VIP consultants present during the event. Feel free to ask anything. This is for a collaboratory competition and they are there to help point you in the right direction.