University of Michigan students, staff, and faculty have an opportunity to challenge their peers at other Big Ten institutions by showcasing their data visualization skills and competing for the title of Big Ten Academic Alliance Data Viz Champion.
Vote by Feb 13 @ 1pm (ET) / Noon (CT)
Select One Data Viz in Each Category
Any member of the BTAA community – that includes YOU, your friends, classmates, and colleagues! – are invited to vote to determine the winners. Log in from your UMICH account to vote.
U-M's Reps in This Year's Competition
Michigan's 2026 winners contending against other schools' entries are:
- Student: Avril Yu, Economics, LSA
- Faculty/Staff: JoLynn Montgomery, Public Health, and Matthew Pickus, ITS
The Challenge
Student Theme: College Fight Songs
Faculty/Staff Theme: Public research that includes their involvement or that uses the Big Ten theme.
Entries were scored for clear and interesting data stories, structure of the graphs and storyboards, demonstrated data integrity, and overall quality of the aesthetic.
Prizes
U-M's winners in each category won:
- $100 gift card from the U-M Tech Shop.
- $50 gift card from Rally House.
BTAA Data Viz Showcase
U-M’s 2026 entries – Avril Yu and JoLynn Montgomery / Matthew Pickus – are posted along with other schools’ entries on the BTAA Data Challenge website.
- The visualization with the most votes for their category will win the Challenge.
- Those voting will need to log in from an account associated with a Big Ten institution to ensure folks only vote once.
- U-M’s top entrants will be presenting their work alongside other entrants in the Data Viz Showcase.
At the end of the showcase, the results of the voting will be announced and the Challenge Winners crowned.
Gallery of Vizzes
To highlight the work being done across all institutions, entries receiving honorable mentions will be submitted for display in the BTAA's Gallery of Vizzes. These will be visualizations that were submitted to institution competitions, but were ultimately not chosen as the institution’s entry to the Challenge.
For More Information
Contact U-M’s BTAA Love Data Week institutional coordinator at [email protected].