{"id":54127,"date":"2018-10-31T12:59:32","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T16:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=54127"},"modified":"2018-10-31T16:28:57","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T20:28:57","slug":"student-led-datathon-dives-deep-into-growing-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2018\/10\/student-led-datathon-dives-deep-into-growing-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Student-led Datathon dives deep into growing industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Big data is big business \u2014 and where big career opportunities lie.<\/span><\/p>\n

To introduce their peers to the growing field of data analytics, a group of Brock University students has created an event that dives into the data phenomenon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now in its second year, the Datathon Educational Conference takes place at Brock University on Saturday, Nov. 10 and features a series of presentations and workshops from industry experts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re bigger and better in almost every regard,\u201d said third-year Political Science student Nour Hage, who co-founded the event alongside Conrad Lipiec and Thomas Lillo. \u201cWe have a lineup of great executives coming in from some of the biggest and best companies in Canada, including Microsoft, RBC, CIBC, Deloitte and BMO.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The event\u2019s roster includes speakers from a variety of backgrounds, such as health sciences, finance, law and digital humanities, as well as experts from several \u201cup-and-coming startups who have big contracts with multinational firms like Apple,\u201d said Lipiec, a third-year Economics student.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Datathon, which sold out in its inaugural year, is about connecting students with industry leaders and helping to guide them on a path to data proficiency, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Workshops held throughout the day were developed through discussions with industry insiders about what they look for in workers in terms of preferred skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

By developing those applicable skills, the goal is to help students gain co-op opportunities and \u201chit the ground running,\u201d Lipiec said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hage stressed there\u2019s \u201cno experience required\u201d to take the Datathon plunge, as it caters to beginners as well as those who have a keen interest in the topic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn university, all we do is analyze information; we manipulate it, make use of it and create new information with existing information,\u201d said Lillo, a third-year Geography and Computer Science student, who encouraged students not to shy away. \u201cThat\u2019s all analytics is, but with technology added into the mix.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Datathon organizers hope to open the eyes of students from various programs to the possibilities that exist with analytics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to show people this is not just for Computer Science and Business students,\u201d Lipiec said. \u201cThere are new data case studies coming out every day in fields you wouldn\u2019t expect, like human resources and accounting. It\u2019s such an innovative field.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lillo said analytics, especially the tools being focused on at the conference, are \u201creally applicable to every domain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only going to become more important as technology continues to improve.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Datathon\u2019s main sponsor is Brock\u2019s Goodman School of Business. The event, held in Sean O\u2019Sullivan Theatre, will include opening remarks by University President Gervan Fearon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Combined tickets for the conference and related workshops are $29, and conference-only tickets are $19.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information and a full list of workshops and speakers, visit <\/span>datathon.ca<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Big data is big business \u2014 and where big career opportunities lie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":54128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,41,1,4,38],"tags":[5800,5798,7154,594],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54127"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54129,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54127\/revisions\/54129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}