During the week-long The Data Open Championship 2021, winning teams from Datathons held around the world gathered to present written reports and live presentations to esteemed judges.
Undeterred by the global pandemic, participants (and a few companions) gathered together through the Zoom platform. Pictured are members of Team 13.
Following nine regional competitions and 25 final teams held over a year span, Team 13 won the The Data Open Championship 2021—the leading global data science competition for university students.
Team 13 included one UC Berkeley Master’s student, two Duke PhD students, and one undergraduate student from SMU.
Together, the teammates took home the $100,000 grand prize.
About the The Data Open Championship Event 2021
The Data Open Championship, sponsored by Citadel and Citadel Securities in partnership with Correlation One, is the largest and most prestigious university-level data science competition in the world. The events serve as "talent magnets" to attract and celebrate the world's brightest aspiring data scientists and software engineers.
Over 6,000 students from more than a dozen countries participated in this year's The Data Open, which consisted of 9 regional events culminating in the global championship event. In the past, the championship has been held at the New York Stock Exchange, but given the risks posed by COVID-19, participants gathered through Zoom.
The event took place on Monday, December 6, 2021, and featured the top 21 teams from the 9 regional datathon competitions. Each team analyzed a series of datasets related to the impact of international trade on plastic pollution, and then prepared a written report and presentation showcasing their data-driven strategies to discover and analyze patterns that could help reduce the plastic-related environmental impact of international trade.
The judge panel evaluated each team’s submission based on their technical rigor, investigative depth, creativity, and potential real-world impact.
About The Data Open 2021 Winners
The winning team, Team 13, featured Dmitry Silantyev (MFE, UC Berkeley), David Buch (PhD, Duke), Jennifer Kampe (PhD, Duke), and Julian LaNeve (B, SMU). They were invited to the championship because team members placed top 3 in the Europe Regional Datathon and East Coast Datathon.
Team 13 received $100,000 for their report and presentation. Their work recommended an introduction of trade restrictions based on specialization in different types of plastic waste treatment to counter the global pollution crisis.
Team 10 won second place. Team members included Canyao Liu (PhD, Yale), Daming Li (PhD, Yale), Yiliang Zhang (PhD, Yale), and Jiaming Song (PhD, Stanford). The team was invited to the Championship as the 3rd place winning team of the Boston Regional Datathon.
Coming in third was Team 5, composed of four students who won the West Coast Regional Datathon held in February. Members included Zhipeng Ye (MS, USC), Kangyu Wang (MS, UBC), Sheng-Kun Zhou (BS, UBC), and Ben Hucknell (BS, UBC).
Are you a student interested in The Data Open? Visit the official competition website.
In addition to Datathons and The Data Open Championships, Correlation One works with world-class companies in other ways, connecting them with emerging data talent. To learn more, visit our competitions page.