Upcoming Events
Our next event is DataFest Spring 2022!
Past Events
About DataFest
DataFest is a recurring, semester-long event at USC where students from different backgrounds and programs get hands-on experience in real projects involving data science. DataFest focuses on projects proposed by USC faculty and researchers, often combining faculty and students in data science as well as in other disciplines.
Awards for students that demonstrate salient contributions and unique skills are given when the final DataFest project presentations take place at the end of the semester.
DataFest is held in collaboration with the GRIDS data science student association. GRIDS provides mentoring, tutorials, and presentations for all participating students. Students do not have to be members of GRIDS to participate in DataFest.
Everyone in the USC community is welcome to participate. USC faculty and researchers can submit project proposals. Students can join the kick-off event at the beginning of the semester and learn more about it.
Past DataFest events have included participation from faculty and students from a diverse range of departments and specializations, from journalism and communications to biology and social work. Students have a chance to learn how to incorporate the different aspects of data science into their academic projects. Faculty and researchers get directly involved in projects, gaining exposure to the variety of opportunities at USC for data science to solve pressing real world challenges.
DataFest events provide students with unique opportunities to:
- Work in teams to solve real-world data science problems
- Interact one-on-one with domain experts who understand the goals of the projects
- Network & learn from CS faculty about how to design and carry out well-formulated data science projects
- Co-author a project overview that will be published as a public CKIDS technical report
- Acquire competitive skills to become paid interns in the summer and future semesters
DataFest events provide faculty and researchers with unique opportunities to:
- Collaborate with faculty and students in computer science who have deep expertise in data science
- Learn about how data science is used in other disciplines
- Involve students in data science projects of interest