SAS and VESIM Enter into Partnership To Leverage Data Analytics for Solving Mental Health Problems

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

SAS and VESIM organized the second version of “Data Quezt”, an exclusive curated hackathon that leveraged data analytics to solve a very vital difficulty existent amongst numerous students across India presently.

The second version of Data Quezt concentrated on potential of depression and suicide particularly amongst the university students in India and how analytics could assist to locate types of depression and suicide amongst students, and precautionary measures for stakeholders utilizing SAS tools. Data Quezt saw record participation, a growth of 180% over previous year. Following two rounds of eliminations, 80 students were chosen to be a component of a 24-hour hackathon organized at the VESIM campus. The championship started with a keynote address by Dr. Satish Modh, Director, VESIM who spoke on the significance of data-based decision making. “As data turns into a commodity it is crucial for students to learn how data can be an important tool for decision making and how data should be interpreted. The way to approach this would be through developing skills like analytics, judgmental diversity management and understanding & responding to diversity. These skills should be incorporated in management school curriculum, and hackathons offer that additional avenue for students to implement their theoretical knowledge and solve real-world challenges.” At the conclusion of the 24 hours challenge, the participants submitted their analysis reports to the jury and 10 groups were shortlisted to offer their findings. The participants were given an exciting problem statement on a humanitarian topic concerning depression levels and suicides. They were provided two datasets: one on the number of suicides for different age, profession squads for men and women across the states over 14 years. The second data set was on depression levels in students and their demographical and behavioral patterns gathered via a study of approximately 14,000 students. All teams managed to do an extremely thorough analysis, however; there were leading three teams that excelled with well thought analytical models and attitude to problem solving. The victors of Data Quezt were: Group 1: Palak Davda, Mohit Badve and Vinal Bagaria; Group 2: Parth Jardosh and Shloka Shah and Group 3: Ronak Jain, Shubham Dalvi and Shubham Mawande. Bhuvan Nijhawan, Director Education - Asia Pacific, SAS Institute India Private Limited observed, “Data in right hands has the capabilities to inform and inspire those in a position to make a difference. The hackathon’s mission is to provide opportunities to young minds to use data for good of the society and harness its power to formulate potential solutions.” About DataQuezt Data Quezt, a contest on Data Analytics was organized together by VESIM B-School and SAS (India). Under-graduates and post-graduate students from a number of states took part in the contest to win three prizes worth INR 9,30,000, INR 6,25,000 and a consolation prize of INR 20,000. The prizes were sponsored by SAS (India). About SAS SAS is the pioneer in analytics. Through novel software and services, SAS empowers and encourages clients all over the globe to transform data into intelligence. SAS provides users with THE POWER TO KNOW®. By ANJISHNU BISWAS