Tandon’s Finance and Risk Engineering Students Triumph at High-Profile Datathon

In recent years, competition for skilled data scientists has been fierce, with major companies vying eagerly to identify and recruit top talent. Citadel, a leading global investment firm, has found a novel way to address the issue. In partnership with talent solutions technology firm Correlation One, they mount a series of “datathons” — competitions aimed at finding the best young data experts the world.

It came as no surprise to anyone at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering that at the September 22 event held in Princeton, a group of graduate students from the Department of Finance and Risk Engineering (FRE) crunched their data all the way to a podium finish.

This year’s competition involved using statistical models to analyze the relationship between income level and mortality rate for cancer patients.

The team, which garnered a share of a $25,000 prize pool for their second-place win, included M.S. candidates Xiao Liu, Shuowen Shen, and Siqi Cao. (They were joined by Columbia University student Letian Wang.)

“The annual Data Open organized by Citadel is a challenging and exciting way for students to test their skills in a real-world scenario and to gain the attention of potential employers,” said FRE Department Chair Peter Carr. “Our students represented their school and their department in a stellar manner, and we are proud that their immense talent and worth were recognized at the competition.”