The team of Anna Plotnik, Kameron Stone, Kellen Bergs, Lane Vugteveen, and Matthew Schmitz earned top honors in data visualization at the ninth annual Midwest Undergraduate Data Analytics Competition (MUDAC). This marks the second consecutive year that an LSBE team has won the data visualization category.
A second LSBE MAP team of Alex Schwarz, Micah Hjelle, Noah Salzl, Noah Schminski, Tanner Thom also competed. Additionally, LSBE students Reese Grailer and Kaylee Andersen competed as members of UMD’s Math and Statistics Department’s team.
MUDAC involves teams spending 24 hours working on a two-part data analytics problem which is then judged. This year’s challenge was analyzing historical district court data and predicting outcomes of civil rights litigation with data provided by Thomson Rueters.
With Covid-19 and social distancing restrictions, competition occurred via a 24-hour Zoom online call over the weekend of March 28 and 29 rather than in person. That was just one of the many obstacles LSBE students had to deal with.
Additionally, students who are normally well versed in SAS software by spring had to learn R software in the only MAP class that occurred before the event. The switch to R was necessary because of the online nature of the event.
"Winning the Data Visualization award for the second year in a row tells you something about the caliber of the students in this program and their skill in telling stories and sharing insights from data,” said Steve Sharkey, interim director of MAP and instructor.
“MUDAC happened the very first weekend after spring break, and campus had closed. Both teams from the Marketing Analytics program did an incredible job adjusting to a new world; new software that we hadn't covered yet; and new analytical techniques that were yet to be covered—all due to the COVID-19 changes. Rather than giving up, they persevered and delivered impressive results."
“Having MUDAC transition from a 24-hour in person competition to a 24-hour online one was challenge itself,” said Plotnik. “Not only did the whole competition have to be done through an online video stream, but many additional challenges had to be overcome—adapting to a new analytics program that we were completely unfamiliar with, learning a new set of code to create a logistic regression model, and finding ways to stay awake as we worked through 24 hours. Not a minute was spared.
“Dealing with real data and presenting it in a way that not only expressed our findings but told a story that anyone could understand is what analytics is about. It’s an accomplishment that couldn’t be done without an encouraging advisor and an amazing team!”
Note: Beginning in fall of 2020, the LSBE Marketing Analytics Program will have strategically evolved into the Consumer Insights and Analytics (CIA) program with a focus on customer data and its use throughout an organization. Learn more about the upcoming changes at Consumer Insights and Analytics.
Photo: From left: Anna Plotnik, Kameron Stone, Kellen Bergs, Lane Vugteveen, and Matthew Schmitz