Team Marcos, consisting of 4 M Tech Data Science students Praveen Loharkar, Gaurav Ojha, Faizan Siddiqi, and Harsh Jani from NMIMS MPSTME Mumbai, secured the runner-up position for their research in the SAS Curiosity Cup. The prestigious international competition that challenges student teams from around the world to compete in real-world analytics challenges.
Team Marcos presented their innovative project “Country-wise Analysis of Socio-economic Indicators and its Impact on Olympic Games’ Performance,” under the guidance of Prof. Sundaram Iyer and Prof. Sarada Samantaray, Associate Dean, Data Science & Artificial Intelligence. The project aimed to uncover the factors that influence a country’s Olympic success by examining the relationship between its socio-economic indicators and athletic performance. They showcased their expertise in data collection, cleaning, normalisation, and analysis using SAS software. Based on the quality and significance of their paper, Team Marcos was selected among the top 10 teams to advance to Round 2, where they presented a video that effectively communicated their research findings and the value of their data preparation techniques.
The research findings of Team Marcos highlighted the correlation between a country’s HDI and Olympic medal performance. The top-performing countries in socio-economic and Olympic indicators included USA, Norway, Denmark, Australia, Russia, and China. Their findings can guide policymakers in developing evidence-based strategies to improve their countries’ sports performance.
Dr. Alka Mahajan, Dean, MPSTME, said, “NMIMS MPSTME’s success in the competition highlights the institution’s commitment to developing its students’ data science skills and promoting innovative research. The Runner-Up title is the hard work and dedication of the students and their mentors, and we look forward to seeing their future accomplishments in the field of data science. The global recognition at such excellent platforms showcasing exceptional skills and knowledge is an honor to the students as well as the university. NMIMS remains committed to guiding students towards achieving more remarkable feats in their academic and professional journeys.”
