Get Ready for the Excitement!
Love Data Week kicks off February 2025, and the anticipation is building!
Important dates to note:
- U-M Submission Deadline: January 15, 2025
- U-M Entrants Notified: January 22, 2025
- U-M Submissions to Big Ten Competition: January 24, 2025
- Voting During Love Data Week: To Be Announced
U-M to Defend Its Big Ten Data Viz Championship Title
The University of Michigan, the reigning champion in the student category, is ready to defend its crown! U-M students, faculty, and staff are invited to enter their most stunning data visualizations for a chance to represent the maize and blue against other Big Ten Academic Alliance institutions. We’re not just entering the competition—we’re returning with a mission to capture the BTAA Data Viz Championship title once again!
STUDENTS: This is your moment to shine. You'll be provided with a data set and challenged to create a jaw-dropping data visualization.
FACULTY AND STAFF: Showcase your expertise by submitting an existing viz that celebrates U-M or one of your incredible projects.
The stakes are high, and the spotlight will be on Michigan as we get to display our data visualization prowess on the Big Ten Data Viz Championship site. Don’t miss your chance to be part of U-M's legacy and defend our championship title.
The details you need to join this thrilling competition can be found here.
Let’s show them what Wolverines are made of!
U-M's 2024 Championship Submission
Elsie Lee-Robbins, a PhD student in the School of Information, and Christopher Gardner, a Business Intelligence Analyst Lead for Information and Technology Services, were chosen from U-M's 2024 entrants to represent our institution in the respective categories of student and faculty/staff. For being selected, Elsie and Christopher received awards from the U-M Tech Shop and the local community.
After all votes were counted among BTAA institutions, Elsie secured the top position in the student category with her "Lego Themes: From Generic to Franchise" entry, winning the BTAA Data Viz Championship for Michigan!
"Data is a driver for decisions at all levels of the university," added Christopher. "It not only tells us what has happened, but also guides us towards understanding what may happen in the future, allowing us to plan and prepare."
About International Love Data Week
Originally coordinated by Heather Coates, International Love Data Week is a celebration of all things data that seeks to bring people together to share their experiences, learn best practices, and have some fun. The international effort is now hosted at U-M’s ICPSR, and many Big Ten institutions coordinate their own institutional celebrations.
BTAA member institutions will host events throughout February 10–14, 2025, that bring together participants from across our institutions to discuss data-related themes.
About the Big Ten Academic Alliance
The BTAA is a strategic partnership dedicated to advancing the academic excellence of member institutions through national leadership, collaboration, and co-investments.
Founded in 1958 by university presidents as the academic counterpart to the Big Ten athletic conference, our world-class research institutions have built upon decades of trust—and a history of collaboration—to create a powerful framework integral to each member university. BTAA programs and initiatives create strategic and demonstrable value for member institutions. Supported programs have a clear and common distinction, such as strong member affiliation or a collection of unique resources. Collaborative efforts value and advance diversity, equity, and inclusiveness across our member institutions, with data playing a central role in both informing and evaluating our programs and initiatives.