Cleaner Energy at the Individual and Community Levels
Changing the sources and usage of energy for a better and sustainable future for a
The Big Data Challenge (BDC) for high school students is an inquiry-based, interdisciplinary, experiential learning program that strengthens students’ problem-solving and critical thinking
abilities by working with Open Data. By allowing students to undertake independent research projects that tackle real-world problems, the BDC synergizes with both classroom and extracurricular experiences to foster an active digital citizenship position and prompt new
sustainable development innovative ideas.
Bring your findings into the class, to your peers, and into the community at large.
Under Patronage of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO
566
Students
159
Teams
115
Schools
Media Coverage
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy is crucial to achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals – from poverty eradication via advancements in health, education, water supply and industrialization to mitigating climate change. (Education 2030 Agenda) However, it varies significantly due to economic, cultural and education levels.
Open data and analytical methods present a unique opportunity to look at the problem of fair distribution and sustainable use of energy.
Students are free to define their research topics that can address technological, economical and social aspects of Affordable and Clean Energy.
Here are some suggested topics:
- Energy security and cybersecurity at individual, community, regional and national levels.
- Clean energy solutions against the impact of pandemic, climate change and other crises.
- Exploration of options, costs and benefits for 100 percent clean energy in the local community.
- Personal, family, community, and social network energy consumption and optimization. Comparison of best practices and sustainable energy results in gender, race, differing income groups of students.
- Advanced vehicle and personal transportation technologies in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and addressing inequalities.
Prizes
Scholarly publication of winning project manuscripts in the peer-reviewed STEM Fellowship Journal, published by NRC Research Press.
Tokenize your project with a STEM Fellowship NFT (Non-Fungible Token) on a Blockchain Network
Schedule
Information Sessions
September 25 – October 16, 2021
Q&A and sample workshops for teachers and their students about the High School Big Data Challenge. Recordings and material will be provided following the orientation session.
Students and teachers may register HERE.
To view the recordings of each session, click on them below.
- Teacher Q&A Session – September 25, 2021 – 7:00 pm EDT (4PM PST)
- Data Science Workshop for Teachers – October 2, 2021 – 7:00 pm EDT (4PM PST)
- Student Q&A Session – October 9, 2021 – 7:00 pm EDT (4PM PST)
- Data Science Workshop + Q&A for Students – October 16, 2021 – 7:00 pm EDT (4PM PST)
Registration Deadline
October 29, 2021 (11:59 PM PST)
Form your team(s) of up to 4 students and register them online HERE.
Team Inquiry with Mentor Support
November 1, 2021 – January 31, 2022
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- Crowdsource resources and investigate analytics tools (SAS, Python, Pandas, etc), choose the one you will learn and use.
- Workshops covering Data Visualization, Statistics, Python Programming, Data Analysis, SQL, and Scientific Writing Skills will be provided to participants to help with this
- Obtain certificates from Cisco Networking Academy in Big Data Fundamentals, Empowerment Technologies, Cybersecurity, and more!
- Attend mentor sessions and ask questions to learn more about anything within the realm of data science and its applications.
- Learn from talks given by working professionals in the analytics industry from organizations like Gartner, the University of Calgary, and more!
- Work on your data set for 3 months. Work together with your team, making use of your mentors, teachers, and the provided resources to analyze your data and propose solutions.
- Crowdsource resources and investigate analytics tools (SAS, Python, Pandas, etc), choose the one you will learn and use.
Project Submission Deadline
February 1, 2022 (11:59 PM PST)
Submit your project report developed in Overleaf before the deadline (2:59 AM EST on February 2) for evaluation by a team of academics and industry experts
Finalist Announcement
February 18, 2022
The finalists (top 20 teams) will be announced! If selected, your team will have the opportunity to present your work at Big Data Day.
High School Big Data Day
March 5th, 2022 (Tentative)
Previous Big Data Challenge Workshops
Here are samples of last year’s workshops to give you an idea of this year’s live, interactive workshops. This year, we will have workshops that focus on statistics, data manipulation, data analysis, machine learning, and more! We encourage you to read these ahead of time to help prepare you for the upcoming BDC.
Our Panelists
Dr. Bonnie Schmidt, CM, FRSC
Let’s Talk Science
President & Founder
Dr. Bonnie Schmidt is the founder and President of Let’s Talk Science, an award-winning, national charitable organization that she started while completing her PhD in Physiology at Western University. Let’s Talk Science helps children and youth fulfill their potential and prepare for their future careers and citizenship roles by supporting their learning and engagement through science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Well over 9 million children, youth and educators have been impacted by Let’s Talk Science since its inception.
Dr. Sacha Noukhovitch
STEM Fellowship
President & Founder
Sacha Noukhovitch is the Founder and President of the STEM Fellowship – a charity organization that equips the next generation of change-makers in STEM with indispensable skills in data science and scholarly writing through peer mentorship and experiential learning. He is also an Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Science Publishing STEM Fellowship Journal – the national scholarly publication of original student research as well as a practicing educator implementing data science education at Earl Haig Secondary School, Toronto.
Wayne Groszko, Ph.D.
Nova Scotia Community College, Canada
Applied Energy Research Scientist
Dr. Groszko works on practical applied research projects in the sustainable energy space with industry partners and a team of researchers, focusing on solar energy, energy storage, energy management and energy data analytics.
Judges
Sarah Schoonover
Solution Architect at Infor
Dr. Mark Ebden
Research Analyst, The Hospital for Sick Children
Justin Wang
Product Manager, Senior at Infor
Javad YaAli
ML Scientist at 1QBit
Dr. Clara Santato
Professor at Polytechnique Montreal
Saarthak Sangamnerkar
Machine Learning Engineer at SAP Canada
Hana Gabrielle Bidon
Faraz Zaidi, Ph.D.
Advisor Health Analytics and Adjunct Professor
Rayshoun Chambers
Executive Vice President, Learning and Development at Blockchain Chamber of Commerce
Philippa Ngaju
Specialist, Health Innovation at the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking, University of Calgary
Tugce Vural, Ph.D.
Decision Scientist in Applied Innovation, Infor
Dr. Orion Penner
Senior Data Scientist at Digital Science
Ph. D., Luis V. Montiel
Principal Scientist, Infor
Dr. Ehsan SadrFaridpour
Senior Data Scientist at Infor
Gerrard Marra, P.Eng
Senior Specialist – Engineering at 3M Canada Compan
