A team of Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) students took home the Best Use of Statistical Analysis award—the highest honor—at the Mid-Missouri American Statistical Association (ASA) 2025 DataFest competition, a nationwide celebration of data-driven problem-solving and storytelling.
The event, held April 4–5, brought together 18 university teams from across Missouri. SEMO’s team, comprised of students Deepshikha Karki, Abhishek Shrestha, Noah Lynch and Krishna Thakar, tackled a massive, previously unseen dataset from a corporate sponsor over a 24-hour sprint. The students were challenged to clean, analyze and model over 200,000 data points to uncover insights and present their findings—all using just three slides. 
Dr. Emmanuel Thompson, SEMO mathematics professor and one of the team’s faculty mentors, explained that DataFest is unlike anything taught in the classroom.
“It’s virgin data—huge, messy, and real. Students must develop research questions, determine what part of the data can answer them, and craft a compelling story with their analysis,” said Thompson.
This year marked SEMO’s third year participating in the event. The team spent the spring semester preparing under the guidance of Dr. Mohamed Abu Sheha, an assistant professor of mathematics at SEMO and Dr. Thompson, meeting weekly to build skills in data wrangling, hypothesis development and statistical modeling. Their preparation paid off. Judges commended SEMO’s team for their ability to tie conclusions directly to their research questions—a hallmark of excellence in data science.
Deepshikha Karki, a participating student, described the experience as exhausting and exciting.
“Before the competition, I was only 30 percent confident. But by the end, I felt like I understood the entire process. It’s like taking another class,” Karki said. “We were up early, working through tornado and flash flood warnings. We narrowed the data down to focus on three sectors, particularly tech, and built our models from there.”
Abhishek Shrestha echoed the sentiment.
“We made our roles very clear—who was modeling, who was analyzing. Once we nailed down the research question, it all started to flow. Teamwork is what won it for us.”
SEMO student Gwen Squires was not an official competitor this year but played a vital mentorship role after competing in 2024.
“I was excited to support the team even if I couldn’t participate,” Squires said. “This experience really boosted my confidence in other statistics courses.”
The Department of Mathematics remains a driving force behind SEMO’s growing data science presence.
“We recruit and train students from the start of the academic year,” said Sheha. “It’s a huge commitment for both students and faculty. We even invite past judges to our practice rounds to simulate real competition pressure.”
Department Chair Dr. Pradeep Singh praised the faculty and students for their hard work and dedication.
“I am so proud of the students and faculty for this achievement,” Singh said. “This win speaks to the academic rigor and career preparation we offer, and we are always happy to support our student organizations in competitions, conferences or presentations in any way we can. I am immensely thankful to have faculty who get so involved with our students.”
The win builds on a strong tradition—SEMO won Best in Show in 2023, Best in Statistical Analysis in 2024 and has consistently stood out among larger institutions. The students can also polish their DataFest project for potential publication later this year.
For more information on SEMO’s math programs visit semo.edu/math.