Data science competition challenged undergraduates to solve local Delaware issues

Mathematical sciences undergraduates at the University of Delaware earned top awards in DataQuest, an intense 48-hour competition held in May that challenged students to put their data analysis skills to the test to help solve some of Delaware’s pressing issues.

The competition brought together UD students from across STEM disciplines—including mathematics, computer science, engineering and statistics—to analyze real-world data to create solutions to challenges in environmental systems, wildlife ecology and public education. Working in interdisciplinary teams and under tight deadlines, students used statistical modeling and data visualization to uncover patterns and present actionable insights. Industry professionals, faculty and graduate students provided mentorship throughout the weekend while evaluating the participants’ critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

The competition culminated in presentations to a panel of expert judges who evaluated teams on their analytical rigor, creativity and clarity of communication. In addition to competing for awards, students built valuable professional networks and gained firsthand experience applying data science.

Delaware EPSCoR and the UD Data Science Institute first hosted the event in May 2025 as part of the American Statistical Association’s national DataFest. For its second year, organizers rebranded the competition as “DataQuest” and shifted from a national dataset to three local datasets. 

Mathematical sciences majors contributed to several winning DataQuest 2026 teams:

• Innovation Award: Lauren Baxter, a freshman honors mathematics and data science major, won alongside teammates Mel Brownlee and Destiny Miles for innovative methodology and external data integration.

• Best Insight Award: Team BigBytes featured math students Gopi Krishna Melam, a sophomore honors computer science and applied mathematics major, and Hayden Taylor, a sophomore mathematics and computer science major.

• Student Choice Award: Team Perspiring Actuaries, comprising actuarial sciences majors Max Santos, Lucas Stevens, Matthew Achenchi, Kayden Landwehr and Brandon Pierce. 

• Modeling-Education Award: Grace Li, a sophomore actuarial sciences major, earned the award as part of Team Henergy.

• Modeling-Snow Goose Award: Yaqing Jiang, a senior majoring in computer science, mathematics and data science, received the honor as part of Team Hail Mary.

Mathematical sciences students also achieved notable success in the inaugural DataFest 2025 competition:

• Best Use of External Data Award: Team DSII included math students: Esosa Isokpan (an actuarial sciences student in the Associate in Arts Program), Scott Bria, a senior applied mathematics major) and Yihong Chen (a senior double-majoring in management information systems and mathematics and data science), alongside teammates Victor Tung, Tyran Rice and Kenny Donat.

• Best Insight Award: Liam Stapley, a freshman mathematics and data science major, won as part of Team Byte Bandits with teammates Michelle McCrea, Kathleen Higgins, Emma Szydlow and Varun Pappu.

• Best Visualization Award: Earned by data science minors Aiman Ahmed, Aastha Desai and Varsha Danduri.