2020 Datathon Competition Challenges Data Scientists

Several students participated virtually in the 2020 Lewis University Datathon on Saturday, April 25. The event was sponsored by Lewis University's Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (DataSAIL) with a generous financial contribution from the Lewis University Innovation Hub.

Dr. Piotr Szcurek, associate professor of Computer Science and director of Lewis University's graduate and undergraduate programs in Data Science, organized the competition.

This year's problem challenged students to develop models that could accurately predict the spread of COVID-19 through a population. The winning models fit the data and were able to predict the spread between 92-94 percent accuracy. The 24-hour event was highly competitive, and the accuracy rates of the models the teams produced were extremely impressive.

First place went to Christina Morgenstern, Piotr Warchol and Sheila Lesiak. Second place went to Jason Huggy, and third place went to Seth Gory.

Lewis University is an innovative and forward-thinking Catholic university offering market-relevant undergraduate and graduate programs to 6,300 students. Sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Lewis University is nationally recognized for preparing intellectually engaged, ethically grounded, globally connected and socially responsible graduates. Visit www.lewisu.edu for further information.