On Thursday, September 19th from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, OPIM Innovate hosted its first data analytics workshop for the upcoming Hanover Image Analytics Challenge. This first workshop, run by Adjunct Professor Ryan O’Connor was “Intro to Data Analytics.” As in the workshop’s name, O’Connor briefed students on the concept of data analytics, presented examples of real-time data collection, and introduced data analysis and visualization tools such as Splunk, Tableau, and Python. There were 40 students in attendance, making this first workshop an incredible success.
As part of the workshop, and to gauge students based on their skillsets and level of interest given certain topics, O’Connor asked everyone to participate in a Splunk demo. After visiting a URL, they were able to answer multiple-choice questions such as “What interests you the most about Big Data?” and see their results in real-time. From responses to questions like the former, as well as from proficiency-based ratings, O’Connor was able to assess potential topics to be covered. He, for example, asked students if they would be interested in learning more about the tools they were more unfamiliar with. This gave students the ability to help shape their own learning.
As stated by O’Connor at the onset of the workshop, there are “tons of options out there” with regard to solutions for the Hanover Challenge. “We’re working with Hanover to give you an experience where you can get exposure to data analytics while working on a real business solution,” Tara Watrous, the project coordinator for the Hanover Challenge, further explained when she introduced the Challenge to students. It is meant to be flexible and open-ended–many proposals can be valuable to the company. However, as stated by O’Connor, “Some of the most challenging problems will be in data cleaning and preparation.” Students must learn how to reap valuable data before analyzing it. The Hanover-sponsored workshops will assist them with both.
While anyone can participate in the Hanover Image Analytics Challenge (and gain at least $100 for doing so), it is also available as a 1-credit elective (OPIM 4895-033). If you are interested in participating in the Hanover Image Analytics Challenge for credit, please fill out an Add/Drop Request Form as soon as possible. For it to be approved, you must have it signed by your advisor and Jonathan Moore. The window of opportunity is closing, so now is your chance!