By Nick Schiff
Chunzi Wang, a Master of Science in Applied Analytics student at the School of Professional Studies, won the DivHacks hackathon on April 14 and was rewarded on the spot when IBM Research offered her a summer internship.
The student-run “diversity hackathon” was aimed at affirming the role of marginalized communities in the tech space. The event attracted sponsorship from IBM, Facebook, TWo Sigma, Plated, and Microsoft. Students from Columbia University’s Data Science Institute and Department of Computer Science also competed.
“The best thing about studying Applied Analytics at SPS,” Wang said, “is that most of our professors have rich experience and deep connections in the industry, and these connections turn into opportunities. I couldn't have won this IBM data challenge if Professor [Siddhartha (Sid)] Dalal encouraged us to enter. His Machine Learning course also helped me sharpen my skills and develop a solid foundation in programming and data science. Thanks to that rigorous training, I performed so well in this hackathon."
“With a great sense of pride for SPS, we feel that we are on the right path by developing a curriculum that enables our students to do well,” said Dr. Dalal.
