ALL undergraduates in the North State are invited!
What is the ASA DataFest?
ASA DataFest is a data hackathon for undergraduate students, sponsored by the American Statistical Association and founded at UCLA, in 2011. A data analysis problem is presented in the form of a dataset and an associated challenge. Teams of students get a dataset on Friday afternoon and work on the problem until Sunday afternoon where they present their findings. After two days of intense data wrangling, analysis, and presentation design, each team is allowed a few minutes and no more than two slides to impress a panel of judges. Prizes are given for Best in Show, Best Visualization, and Best Use of External Data.
Undergraduates from all majors are welcome. Some of the most diverse teams have been the most successful.
Learn more about this national event at the event website: https://norcaldatafest.netlify.app/
This year we are proud to announce that we will have a major venue upgrade. DataFest 2026 will be held in the beautiful new Behavioral and Social Sciences building!
What students have had to say about the ASA DataFest
“DataFest gave me valuable experience with working under time-pressure and trying to figure out the best way to approach a problem given the time crunch. I was also given the opportunity to talk to professionals in the data science field who bestowed some insight about what a data science job was like. This event was the first time I had ever had to deal with a dataset this massive and make an attempt to get some interpretation out of it, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Not only did I get a lot of experience from DataFest that I wouldn’t have received in a classroom, I also had a blast all three days. I highly recommend students to participate regardless of their major and hope to see them attending next year!”
- Eddie Gomez, Statistics Student
“Data Fest was so much fun! I’m glad I participated because it gave me a taste of analyzing real data in a time constraining environment. As a biologist, it is useful for me to understand how to clean data, how to analyze it, and how to communicated it to an audience. Data Fest also gave me confidence to work with a team under pressure. I realized that most jobs available will be team oriented, and that makes the ‘real world’ less scary to work in. I can’t wait to tackle a new data set for next year’s Data Fest.”
- Mariby Cruz, Biology Student
‘NorCal DataFest was such a challenging and rewarding experience. I liken it to a cold-plunge; the shock filled my body as I entered the waters and I thought to myself “can I even do this,” but once I embraced the discomfort it somehow became more manageable. By the end of it I was filled with this strange sense of satisfaction that left me thinking “I kind of want to do it again.” I got to see what data science and analytics actually looks like all the while gaining resume worthy experience. If you are considering attending, do it!’
- Matt Ardon, Business and Analytics Student