IS Student Team Wins 3rd Place at SAS Global Forum Competition 2018
CBA’s IS undergraduate team won the third-place prize at the SAS Global Forum Student Competition in Denver, Colorado on April 19. Approximately 6,500 people attended this annual conference. The top eight student teams from across the nation presented their papers in front of a panel of judges from SAS and a large audience.
Undergraduate IS students Andrew Martinez, Jorge Nuno, and Ethan Stager advanced to the top eight of the SAS Global Forum Student Symposium in February. They then competed against seven other teams for the top three prizes in Denver, with all travel expense covered by the conference organizer. The students were advised by Dr. Spiro Samonas and Dr. Mohamed Abdelhamid, IS Department faculty members.
The team completed an analysis of how Americans consume their news, more specifically through the Internet or television, and if certain demographic variables such as age, race, income, gender, and education can accurately predict preferences. The analysis used data from the General Social Survey that has been conducted every year since 1972 by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
All other teams had members who were pursuing a Master's degree; CBA had the only fully undergraduate team. The graduate teams were pursuing one of the following degrees: Master in Business Analytics, Master in Data Science, or Master of Biostatistics.
Most of the students are currently working or interning at major companies in SAS related positions (e.g., data analyst). The CBA team is the only team from an Information Systems department.
CBA IS student teams entered into the competition for the first time last year and have produced an impressive outcome. The CBA team of dedicated and motivated students, along with mentors Dr. Samonas and Dr. Abdelhamid, opened up an exemplary and competitive path for our IS students’ study, potential, and career.
