Another Big Year for UT SDS Majors at SMU's Annual ASA DataFest

Congratulations to all the UT SDS Majors who travelled to Dallas to participate in SMU’s seventh annual American Statistical Association (ASA) DataFest from April 11-13, 2025! Eighteen teams competed in the DataFest, and seven finalist teams were selected. Of these finalists, three were UT teams. The top awards for "Best Insight" and "Best Statistical Analysis" went to UT teams (see the teams pictured with their awards below!). The team who won “Best Insight” consisted of SDS Majors Anaya Malik, Grace Ogden, Juhi Malwade, Neena Varanasi, and Varun Ramanathan, and the team who won “Best Statistical Analysis” consisted of Anish Ravindran, Bhavik Singhal, Max Allen, and Saharsh Manderwad. Congratulations to all the SDS award-winners, finalists, and participants!

The ASA DataFest is a celebration of data in which teams of undergraduates work around the clock to find and share meaning in a large, rich, and complex data set. After two days of intense data wrangling, analysis, and presentation design, each team is allowed a few minutes and just a few slides to impress a panel of judges.