WiDS Cambridge Datathon

The 2023 WiDS Cambridge Datathon, part of the global WiDS Conference Datathon, is organized by Sharut Gupta (MIT CSAIL), Arushi Jain (Microsoft), and Luana Ruiz (MIT CSAIL). The WiDS Cambridge Datathon Workshop is an annual workshop preceding the WiDS Cambridge Conference. The workshop aims to provide mentorship and training for those interested in participating in the WiDS Datathon Challenge, and, more generally, anyone with a strong interest in data science. More information on the WiDS Cambridge Datathon website.

Date:
February 25, 2023

Time:
10:00am-5:00pm

Location:
One Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02142

Registration: https://forms.gle/yUmLfzVUWZC5fPrU7

Topic: Environment and Climate Change

Extreme weather events are sweeping the globe and range from heat waves, wildfires and drought to hurricanes, extreme rainfall and flooding. These weather events have multiple impacts on agriculture, energy, transportation, as well as low resource communities and disaster planning in countries across the globe.

Accurate long-term forecasts of temperature and precipitation are crucial to help people prepare and adapt to these extreme weather events. Currently, purely physics-based models dominate short-term weather forecasting. But these models have a limited forecast horizon. The availability of meteorological data offers an opportunity for data scientists to improve sub-seasonal forecasts by blending physics-based forecasts with machine learning. Sub-seasonal forecasts for weather and climate conditions (lead-times ranging from 15 to more than 45 days) would help communities and industries adapt to the challenges brought on by climate change.

In this year’s datathon challenges participants will use data science to improve longer-range weather forecasts to help people prepare and adapt to extreme weather events caused by climate change.