This is Statistics Contest Winners
Every year, This is Statistics hosts the Fall Data Challenge and Spring Contest (Statsketball or March Randomness) for high school and undergraduate students to apply their statistical knowledge to different real-world issues and sports analytics.
Over the years, This is Statistics has received hundreds of impressive submissions and recommendations from students around the world to improve voter behavior, homelessness, the opioid addiction crisis, national crime, and predict the winner of the annual NCAA March Madness Tournament.
View a compilation of our previous contest winners below.
2022 Breaking News: #Dataviz Headline Challenge
Middle School & High School Winners
First Place
Headline: Road to Success: Global Gen Zers Envision Different Paths (view the Week 1 Graph)
Student: James Roberts
Sponsor: Laura Ringwood
School: West Lake High School, Austin, Texas
Headline: Gas, Milk, and Meat, Oh My! Consumers Notice Price Increase of Basic Items (view the Week 4 Graph)
Student: Mary Lousia Leopold
Sponsor: Ms. Sylvia
School: School Without Walls High School, Washington, DC
Second Place
Headline: Scorching Heat to Chilling Cold: 2021’s Weather Breaks Records (view the Week 2 Graph)
Student: Supra Kuchibhatla
School: International Academy East High School, Troy, Michigan
Headline: Wallet feeling light? Americans say the price of necessities like gas and food is creeping higher (view the Week 4 Graph)
Student: Alex J. Choi
School: Crean Lutheran High School, Irvine, California
Third Place
Headline: Cool or shine, it’s not divine in 2021: 10.6% of weather records broken in South or West at peak (view the Week 2 Graph)
Student: Samuel Jebaraj
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
School: Valley Christian High School, San Jose, California
Headline: INFLATION AGITATION: Americans Feeling Pain at the Pump and Dinner Table (view the Week 4 Graph)
Student: Winston Li
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
School: Valley Christian High School, San Jose, California
Undergraduate Winners
First Place
Headline: Ukrainian Refugee Flows Poised to Break Records, With Most Headed to Poland (view the Week 3 Graph)
Student: Zoe Spicer
Sponsor: Jacob Smith
School: Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Second Place
Headline: Leading Factors of Success: How Young Americans Differ from Other Nations History (view the Week 1 Graph)
Student: Vanessa Ortiz
School: University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Third Place
Headline: Roots of success according to 15-24 year-olds (view the Week 1 Graph)
Headline: Purchasing Power: Products and Services that have seen their prices rise dramatically according to Consumers (view the Week 4 Graph)
Student: Tropel Célia
Sponsor: Lynn-Martinsons Nadine
School: Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Headline: Gen Z’s Story: My Success, My Business. But Their Country’s Level of Income May Have A Say (view the Week 1 Graph)
Student: Quynh Anh Nguyen
School: University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
2021 Fall Data Challenge–Fight Food Insecurity
Best Overall:
High School:
BLLMS
Students: Sumira Naroola, Leah Ning, Bhavya Yarlagadda, Lucy Yue, and Mia Zhang
Sponsors: Claudia Smith
Institutions: Valley Christian Schools, San Jose, CA
Undergraduate:
Go Eagles
Students: Mingxuan Liu, Yijun Liu, Anji Ni, and Chen Xue
Sponsor: Dr. Zachary Binney and Dr. Deric Shannon
Institutions: Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Honorable Mention, Best Visualization:
High School:
CJJRS
Students: Cameron Maloney, Joseph Chen, James Lee, Rik Mukherjee, and Surya Subramanian
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
Institution: Valley Christian High School, San Jose, CA
Undergraduate:
Team SKEWER
Students: Kordale Summers, Ezekiel Woods, Emma Rector
Sponsor: Silas Bergen
Institution: Winona State University, Winona, MN
Honorable Mention, Best Use of External Data:
High School:
NTA1
Students: Sophia Shaw, Nathan Tin, and SoeMoe Aung
Sponsor: Deb Burch
Institution: New Tech Academy, Fort Wayne Community Schools, Fort Wayne, IN
Undergraduate:
Wu Data Analytics Club
Students: Hayden Vaughn, Leo Adams, Becca Barbanell
Sponsor: Professor Heather Kitada Smalley
Institution: Willamette University, Salem, OR
2021 March Randomness Data Challenge
High School:
A Fraction Ahead
Students: Alaina Smith and Delfina Szigethy
Sponsor: Heather Pessy
Institution: Mt. Lebanon High School, Pittsburgh, PA
Honorable Mentions:
Elidia R
Student: Elidia Reyes
Institution: Wayne High School, Fort Wayne, IN
Mathster’s Stupefying 1 Stars
Students: Molly, Miles, Stella, Trevor, Roman, Talon, Sam, Patrick, Myles, Beckley, Timothy, Will, Sarah, Reece, Laurel, Macy and Sarah
Sponsor: Jeremy Willis
Institution: Mariemont Junior High School, Fairfax, OH
Undergraduate:
SiegeChauffantDansLeMercobenz
Students: Scott McGuigan, Alexis Morel, Clément Verdier and Chloé Le Chevalier
Sponsor: Nadine Lynn-Martinsons
Institution: Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Honorable Mentions:
Rah Prof. Aliyev!
Students: Yang Hsia, Nicolas Shier and Zachary Branner
Sponsor: Dr. Denis Aliyev
Institution: Virginia Military Institute, Lexington City, VA
Rambler
Student: Charles Hwang
Institution: Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL
Watch all 16 challenges and the outcomes.
2020 Fall Data Challenge—Get Out the Vote
Best Overall:
High School:
NGIST
Students: Binze Li, Isabella He, Julian Dong, and Aurora Wu
Sponsors: Yongsheng Bai, Zhaohui Qin and Weihua An
Institutions: Bellaire High School, Bellaire, TX
Pittsford Mendon High School, Pittsford, NY
Northville High School, Northville, MI, and
Emma Willard School, Troy, NY
Undergraduate:
Super Juniors
Students: Qi An, Mengzhi Qin, Xuling Yang, and Chenyuan Zhu
Sponsor: Ranjini Grove
Institutions: Barnard College, New York, NY, and
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Honorable Mention, Best Visualization:
High School:
Lake Howell Stats
Students: Samantha Waterston and Emily Mason
Sponsor: John Rothrock
Institution: Lake Howell High School, Winter Park, FL
Undergraduate:
WU Stats
Students: Aby Jaeger and Nikki Seina
Sponsor: Heather Kitada Smalley
Institution: Willamette University, Salem, OR
Honorable Mention, Best Use of External Data:
High School:
Data Minors
Students: James Anderson, Kevin Huang, Prathik Kakarlamudi, Angela Tsang, and Zack Zhuang
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
Institution: Valley Christian High School, San Jose, CA
Undergraduate:
Green Team
Students: Emily Litzenberg, Kate Lang, Nate Mulugeta, and Shannon Connor
Sponsor: Elizabeth Johnson
Institution: George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
2019 Spring Statsketball Challenge
“Pick ‘Em”: Upset Challenge
Women’s Tournament
High School:
Los Bambas
Students: Harry Swales, Cole Dutherage, Seun Lagbenro, Pruitt Spritzer
Institution: Strake Jesuit College Prep, Houston, TX
Honorable Mentions:
Adsit’s Army
Students: Joshua Guo, Ali Jalal, Ashwin Morales, and Justin Varkey
Institution: Strake Jesuit College Prep, Houston, TX
Yay!
Students: Michael Hansen, Nick Ferazzi, Mark Mahoney, Matt Castenada
Institution: Strake Jesuit College Prep, Houston, TX
Undergraduate:
Sports Analytics @ NC State
Student: Jason Thompson and Graham Pash
Institution: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Honorable Mentions:
Barry Bee Benson
Student: Brad Benson
Institution: Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI
One Shining Moment
Students: Scott Gill and Brandon Sucher
Institution: Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
Men’s Tournament
High School:
JAB
Students: Bobby Daigle, Janise Liang, and Allison Lam
Institution: Valley Christian High School, San Jose, CA
Honorable Mentions:
Mia and Anna’s Dream Team
Students: Mia Galat and Anna Zdunczyk
Institution: Andover High School, Andover, MA
Ryan McFaden
Student: Ryan McFaden
Institution: Franklin Regional High School, Murrysville, PA
Undergraduate:
Team Canada
Student: Eric Thiel
Institution: University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan
Honorable Mentions:
BYU Sports Analytics 1
Students: Tanner Brotherson, Zachary Burridge, and Taylor Field
Institution: Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
St. Olaf Sports Analytics
Students: Alex Ewald, Tyson E. Hart, Evan Jasper, and Max Karpinske
Institution: St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
“Build Your Own Bracket”: Draft Challenge
Women’s Tournament
High School:
XXX
Students: Helen Meissner and Alicia Stepin
Institution: The Bear Creek School, Redmond, WA
Honorable Mention:
Blue Team
Students: Yessica Roldan and Taylor Trantham
Institution: Newberg High School, Newberg, OR
The Ls
Students: Lucky Motwani and Lekhya Sathi
Institution: Andover High School, Andover, MA
Undergraduate:
One Shining Moment
Students: Scott Gill and Brandon Sucher
Institution: Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
Honorable Mention:
Inazuma
Student: Govind Menon
Institution: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Sports Analytics @ NC State
Students: Jason Thompson and Graham Pash
Institution: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Men’s Tournament
High School:
Julia and Emily
Students: Julia Frisco and Emily Tamulewicz
Institution: Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School, Brecksville, OH
Honorable Mention:
Insyte
Student: Frank Qian
Institution: Andover High School, Andover, MA
Squares
Students: Lily Steiger and Aurora Thomas
Institution: Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School, Brecksville, OH
Undergraduate:
One Shining Moment
Students: Scott Gill and Brandon Sucher
Institution: Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
Honorable Mention:
Number 8.1
Student: Alex Kelleher
Institution: Butler University, Indianapolis, IN
Sparty Party (BB)
Student: Brad Benson
Institution: Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI
2019 Fall Data Challenge—Help Solve Homelessness
Best Overall:
High School:
Students: Kaushik Devireddy, Raymond Kuan, Martin Liu, David Shao
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
Institution: Valley Christian High School, San Jose, CA
Undergraduate:
Students: Elena Martinez and Jack Mauro
Sponsor: Dr. Anna Bargagliotti
Institution: Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
Honorable Mention, Best Visualization:
High School:
Students: Cathy Chang, Kyle Lee, Judy Zhu
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
Institution: Valley Christian High School, San Jose, CA
Undergraduate:
Students: Lev El-Askari, Gregory Gandy, and Monce Barajas Gomez
Sponsor: Heather Kitada Smalley
Institution: Willamette University, Salem, OR
Honorable Mention, Best Use of External Data:
High School:
Students: Kartik Adimulam, Jameson MacMillan, Annie Ping, Brandon Tran, Elisa Zhang
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
Institution: Valley Christian High School, San Jose, CA
Undergraduate:
Students: Carl Bock, Daniel Hauptmann, Carl Lackmann
Sponsor: Dr. Michael Massmann
Institution: WHU, Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany
2018 Spring Statsketball Challenge
“Pick ‘Em”: Upset Challenge
High School:
Student: Sophie Mason
Institution: Valley Christian High School, San Jose, California
Honorable Mentions:
Student: Gino Assenmacher
Institution: Monroe High School, Monroe, Michigan
Student: Makendra Grubel
Institution: Mauldin High School, Simpsonville, South Carolina
Undergraduate:
Student: Jake Oringel
Institution: University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina
Honorable Mentions:
Student: Ashley King
Institution: Anderson University, Plainfield, Indiana
Student: Andy Li
Institution: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
“Build Your Own Bracket”: Draft Challenge
High School:
Student: Addie Morris
Institution: West Branch High School, Beloit, Ohio
Honorable Mention:
Student: Savanna Triplett
Institution: West Branch High School, Salem, Ohio
Undergraduate:
Student: Luke Benz
Institution: Yale University, Middlebury, Vermont
Honorable Mention:
Student: Mitchell Collins
Institution: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California
2018 Fall Data Challenge—Public Health Data
Best Overall:
High School:
Students: Nicholas Chiang, Bobby Daigle, Allison Lam, Janise Liang, Vittal Thirumalai
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
Undergraduate:
Students: Arianna Kazemi, Connor Kennedy, Gabri Silverman, and Yugal Subedi
Sponsor: Nicholas Reich
Honorable Mention, Best Visualization:
High School:
Students: Preston Chan, Lyon (JJ) Li, and Saurav Raghavendra
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
View the presentation
Students: Anisha Baktha, Sandhya Bellary, Dave Ho, Raunak Singh
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
View the presentation
Undergraduate:
Students: Nicholas Karig, Trent Maddox, and Robert Yeatts
Sponsor: Nicole Lewis
View the presentation
Students: Steven Lawrence, Hector Morhan, and Marco Paulino
Sponsor: Emma Benn
View the presentation
Honorable Mention, Best Use of External Data:
High School:
Students: Nicholas Chin, Lucy Li, Janet Qian, and Tejas Rao
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
View the presentation
Students: Rebecca Schwartz and Avery Tandon
Sponsor: Heather Pessy
View the presentation
Undergraduate:
Students: Lizzy Compton, Jacob Englert, Parker Kain, Sami Shaw, Courtney Taylor
Sponsor: Joseph Nolan
View the presentation
Students: Ashira Mawji, Alison Ortiz Dimas, Chae Young (Clara) Seo
Sponsor: Katherine Correia
View the presentation
2017 Spring Statsketball Challenge
“Pick ‘Em”: Upset Challenge
High School:
Student: Naveen Gooneratne
Institution: Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, Pa.
Undergraduate:
Student: Michael McLaughlin
Institution: Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
“Build Your Own Bracket”: Draft Challenge
High School:
Students: James Andrews, Jordan Levy, and Connor Heuerman
Institution: College Park High School, Pleasant Hills, CA
Undergraduate:
Students: Jason Thompson and Graham Pash
Institution: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
2017 Fall Data Challenge–Police Data
Best Overall
High School:
Students: Catalina Bartholomew, Sophie Mason, Grace Ding, and Allie Restani
Sponsor: Claudia Smith
Institution: Valley Christian High School, San Jose, CA
Undergraduate:
Students: Jimmy Hickey, Kapil Khanal, and Luke Peacock
Sponsor: Silas Bergen
Institution: Winona State University, Winona, MN
Honorable Mention, Best Use of External Data
High School:
Students: Alaina Cerro, Sean Conroy, and Elise Bermudez.
Sponsor: Lee Cristofano
Institution: Bethel Park High School, Bethel Park, PA
Undergraduate:
Students: Luke Zheng, Qianyu Liu, Scott Lai, Sicheng Chu, Xi He
Sponsor: Karl Rohe
Institution: University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, WI
Honorable Mention, Best Visualization
High School:
Students: Alex Lapuente, Ana Kenefick, and Sara Kenefick
Sponsor: Donna Minnig
Institution: Charlotte Latin School, Charlotte, NC
Undergraduate:
Students: Julia Nguyen, Katherine Qian, Youbeen Shim, Catherine Sun
Sponsor: Jordan Rodu
Institution: University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
2016 Fall Data Challenge—Prediction of the 2016 Presidential Election Results
Best Overall
High School:
Student: Benjamin Skapura
Institution: Brecksville Broadview Heights High School, Broadview Heights, OH
Undergraduate:
Student: Lexi Poynor
Institution: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Congratulations for all of our students for their outstanding submissions!
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