Industry Talk-Backs

MIDAS organizes a series of student meetings with industry representatives.  Students learn about data science in the industry and career preparation.  To receive email notifications for such events, please contact our Education Program Manager, Trisha Fountain.

Careers in Data Science Summer Virtual Series

MIDAS will host a summer virtual series on Careers in Data Science. Each month, we’ll be speaking with professionals from various fields in industry as they discuss their career path, offer insights into what it takes to excel in the tech industry, give advice to students as they prepare for the interview process, and answer questions about their professional experiences.
Thursday, May 21,12:00-1:00 PM
Panel of three data scientists who will discuss the varying ways data science is implemented at their individual companies. Panelists include: Sean Law- Research & Data Scientist at TD Ameritrade, Rose Putler- Bioinformatics Scientist at Thermo Fisher, and Steve Schwartz- CTO and Co-Founder of Genomenon.  To RSVP for this virtual event, please register at: https://forms.gle/ZqJdfgSJ2nSxsDjy6

Basketball Data Madness Challenge 2020

Update: April 10th, 2020

MIDAS is pleased to announce the winners of the Basketball Data Madness Challenge 2020. The top two submissions for each challenge prompt were selected to represent the winning Final Four.

Challenge Prompt 1 winners:

  • Team 17: Ben Brennan, Lam Tran, and Tahmeed Tureen
  • Team 11: Shengyu Feng, Aylin Gunal, Ying Cao, and Danielle Park

Challenge Prompt 2 winners:

  • Team 16: Gillen Brown, Tyler Gardner, Cameron Pratt, and Juan Remolina Gonzalez
  • Team 12: Jen Sheng Wong, Jin Fu Ooi, Kai Xuan Shau, and Wen Hoong Ling

Further information on the winning teams and their submissions: MIDAS Basketball Data Madness Challenge

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The Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS) and the Exercise & Sport Science Initiative (ESSI) are excited to announce the 2020 Basketball Data Madness Challenge for students with an interest in data science. Student teams of up to 4 members will be given access to two datasets on Michigan Basketball player performance loads and overall game statistics.  Teams will have one week to analyze the datasets (on your personal computers) and answer predefined questions from the challenge organizers. Final questions will be similar to the following examples:

1) How do performance loads relate to game outcomes (e.g., win/loss)?

2) How do player performance loads relate to game dynamics (e.g., turnover)?

In the spirit of March Madness, 4 winning teams will be selected by a panel of U-M data scientists and will each receive a $400 “Final Four” prize. The judging will be based on both the scientific content and the communication of results. We look for well-designed and well-communicated projects at any level of expertise.

Both graduate and undergraduate students, at all levels of data science expertise, are welcome to participate.  One team member should register the entire team by Friday, March 13.  You may also register as an individual and MIDAS will help you form teams.  Only 16 teams will be accepted to compete.

Challenge Timeline:

March 13 – Team Registration Closes

March 16 – Data Challenge Kickoff Event – Learn about the challenge datasets.

March 30 – Submissions due electronically via Box. Any copies of the data must be deleted after the 30th.

April 10 – Final Four winners will be announced. Cash prizes will be awarded.

Judges

Name Title Affiliation
Alex Wong Associate Athletic Trainer Michigan Basketball
Blair Winograd Research Fellow MIDAS
Qianying Lin Research Fellow MIDAS
Stefan Szymanski Stephen J. Galetti Collegiate Professor of Sport Management Kinesiology
Tom Finholt Dean and Professor of Information School of Information
Maria Veiga Research Fellow MIDAS

Questions about the data challenge?  E-mail MIDAS Education Program Manager, Trisha Fountain (tvfount@umich.edu).