NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Saint Mary’s College continued its tradition of hosting the 3rd Annual Data Science Hackathon on February 28, continuing into the 29th.

The event is a competition for teams of up to four college students or recent graduates to test out their skills at solving data science problems. The teams typically have 24 hours to complete the task.

15 schools from the area are competing in this year's event.

This year the theme for the competition is recommender systems, which is a type of prediction model that companies use to determine user ratings or preferences.

"Hackathons provide a venue for self-expression and creativity through technology. People with technical backgrounds come together, form teams around a problem or idea, and collaboratively code a unique solution from scratch," Hackathons Anonymous said.

Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three teams that solve the data problem presented. The event and the prizes are made possible by a grant from the Lilly Endowment.

The Hackathon is a great opportunity to try solving data science problems while learning more about the field.

"The other goal is to get students practice and hands on experience, actually doing some of the applications that they would actually do in a career related to data science," Dr. Kristin Kuter said, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at St. Mary's.