Data mining shootout:

Three ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅ graduate students have been named the nation’s best at sorting and comparing vast amounts of information.

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November 04, 2008

Three ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅ graduate students have been named the nation’s best at sorting and comparing vast amounts of computer data.Β 

Data Mining Champions 2008
(l. to r.) ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅ President R. Gerald Turner, Jayjit Roy, Manan Roy, Stefan Avdjiev, and Professor Tom Fomby.

Economics Ph.D. candidates Stefan Avdjiev, Jayjit Roy and Manan Roy in the Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences won the 2008 Data Mining Shootout and its $5,000 prize based on their program logic and software solutions for a fictional airline trying to improve customer satisfaction with company responses to weather events.Β  The goal was to use weather data to predict flight cancellations and pre-reserve hotel rooms and rental cars for stranded passengers.

β€œThis could be costly, so accuracy would be important,” said team member Avdjiev.Β  β€œCompanies now have the capability to gather and store data they didn’t even have 20 years ago. Data mining allows them to analyze that data.”

More than 30 teams from universities and colleges across the country competed in the competition. ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣơ’s winning team was announced on October 27 – the second day of the data mining conference at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.Β  It was ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣơ’s first time to enter the competition, said faculty sponsor and economics professor Tom Fomby.

β€œWe were not only the newcomers,” Fomby said.Β  β€œWe were the winners.”

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November 04, 2008