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A Celebration of Data
First held at UCLA in 2011, the annual DataFest competition sponsored by the American Statistical Association brings together undergraduates from schools across the U.S. to win awards and even potential recruitment by employers. Graduating senior Bruins on some of the winning teams at 2023 ASA DataFest shared why the competition—and the field—are so special.
With the exponential growth of data and recent developments in chat assistant AI, there is a growing demand for individuals skilled in analyzing and interpreting large data sets. I believe that people’s interest in big data will certainly benefit my career, but it also means constantly learning the newest techniques to efficiently analyze and draw conclusions. —RYAN
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WALLACE, STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE MAJOR
—KATHY NGUYEN-LY, STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE, POLITICAL SCIENCE DOUBLE MAJOR
I have been very involved in the UCLA statistics community, so I was always curious about participating in DataFest, despite not having a major in the department. I firmly believe that our team’s strength was the diverse perspectives we brought to problem-solving, based on our unique backgrounds.
—ARMAN GHAZARYAN, BUSINESS ECONOMICS
MAJOR WITH A MINOR IN STATISTICS AND
DATA SCIENCE
My biggest takeaway from DataFest was that data science doesn’t necessarily have to entail very complex modeling. Our team felt that modeling wouldn’t answer our question, so instead we did a lot of counting and making data visualizations to illustrate our conclusions. Sometimes simpler is better!
As a language that cuts across cultures and nationalities, data science helps us bridge gaps in our understanding of each other and the communities in which we live.
I have enjoyed and appreciated how my major has incorporated consulting classes to better prepare us for real-life challenges in statistics and data science. On a more personal note, I have enjoyed being able to partake in a diverse community of data enthusiasts— especially at ASA DataFest! —SARAH
ZHARI, STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE MAJOR
Read more from these statistics and data science scholars at college.ucla.edu/magazine
