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First Annual Cognitive and Immersive Data Insights Application Challenge (June 5–6, 2018)

On June 5-6, 2018 The Lally School of Management, the Rensselaer Institute for Data Exploration and Applications (IDEA) / Health INCITE, the Center for Global Communication+Design (Comm+D), and the Cognitive and Immersive Systems Lab (CISL) presented the 2018 Rensselaer Cognitive and Immersive Data Insights Application Challenge. More than 40 RPI undergrad and grad students competed in this inaugural challenge to create immersive, multimodal, collaborative applications using health and business datasets. In addition to cash awards, winning teams were presented with opportunities for ongoing interdisciplinary research.

The IDEA Campfire Lab was busy during the Data Insights Application Challenge!
The Rensselaer IDEA Campfire Lab was busy during the 2018 Cognitive and Immersive Data Insights Application Challenge!

The Challenge drew participants with broad spectrum of interests and skills:

  • Analytics: Data analytics and dynamic, interactive visualizations; Data transformation, exploration and analysis; Deep Learning systems for automatic analysis
  • Programming: Software design and documentation; nodeJS & python development; NLP and NLU application development ; Networking and working with web service APIs
  • Design: Data visualization design; HCI storyboarding; UI mockups; Web design 

A wide range of RPI majors were represented, including: Business Analytics, Computer Science, Economics, Information Technology and Web Science (ITWS), Math, Electrical Engineering, Communications, MBA, Supply Chain Management, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS), and Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship (TCE). 

Creating an R-based, interactive visualization of NYS health data on the IDEA Campfire
Creating an R-based, interactive visualization of NYS health data on the Rensselaer IDEA Campfire

Final Project Teams and results:

  1. OVERALL WINNER: NYS Health Data Explorer I (Campfire, R):
    • Adam Lawrence, Benjamin Volk, Lou Russell Jr, Oliver Jiang, Sarah McRae
  2. HONORABLE MENTION (Health): NYS Health Data Explorer II: Sunburst (Campfire, R, Multi-window Shiny):
    • Alexander New, Amy Schumacher, Hannah DlS, Xinwen Hu
  3. HONORABLE MENTION (Business/Entrepreneurship): Visualization of Customer Discovery and Competitive Landscapes for Cognitive Boardrooms using Crunchbase Data (Tableau):
    • Daniel Southwick, Marcia Mitchell, Shuodong Zhang, Xuan Ji, Yao Shang, Yin Li, Colin Danahy
  4. Clustering of Companies and Shared Boards of Directors (Campfire, D3.js):
    • Deepak Saha, Jason Lebrecht, Jayanth Bharadwaj Nagaraja, Shivam Sinha, Zijiang Yang
  5. Interactive United States Map Investigating the Relationship between Numbers of Smokers, Lung Cancer and PM 2.5 Values (HTML5, JSON, D3.js)
    • Asad Mehdi, Chang Sun, Harold Deng, Wendy Hu, Zhengneng Chen
  6. Immersive Diagnosis with Virtual Reality (R)
    • Andrés Vargas, James Hicks, Alex Mankowski, Ridwan Iqbal

 

For more information about the Rensselaer IDEA's engagement in the Cognitive and Immersive Data Insights Application Challenge please contact John Erickson erickj4@rpi.edu