Six Maryville students spent hundreds of hours figuring out how data science tools, including artificial intelligence, might reduce the poaching and illegal trafficking of protected animals.
Six Maryville students spent hundreds of hours figuring out how data science tools, including artificial intelligence, might reduce the poaching and illegal trafficking of protected animals.
In March, their work paid off when they won the “Saving the Herd with AI” Ideathon at St. Louis’ T-REX coworking space.
Their team, the Safari Techno Saints, beat two Saint Louis University teams and one University of Missouri-St. Louis team. The Saints’ presentation stood out for its overarching thoroughness, according to one of the judges, T-REX president and executive director Patricia Hagen. “I was very impressed,” Hagen said.
The students had been working on the project last October, when the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency collaborated with the Missouri Technology Corporation and SLU to launch the contest. Their team’s victory reflects the caliber of Maryville’s students, drawn from across the world, and its real-world focus, according to Yuanjin Liu, PhD, director of the data science program and associate professor of actuarial science and data science.
“In recent years, Maryville has created an Active Learning Ecosystem that is student-centered,” Liu said. “We frequently update the curriculums in data science based on the job market trends, and we also focus on the latest research progress and developments in data science.”
The Ideathon consisted of 30-minute pitches by each team, followed by question-and-answer periods. It was a rigorous exercise, like a “mini PhD defense presentation,” Liu said. In fact, the Maryville team was the only one without at least one PhD-level member, making its winning effort all the more noteworthy.
“The team needed to apply their critical thinking skills and understand the data in a geospatial view,” Liu said. “They looked at this project from different angles, then designed and developed several potential solutions, and finally chose a feasible one based on the time constraint.”
The Maryville students fit the project around their already demanding academic schedules, including working until 10 p.m. the night before the competition. But they always felt they could count on Liu for assistance.
“He was very available and interested,” said project lead and data science major Faiz Ikramulla. “But he didn’t tell us what to do. Instead, he provided a framework to help point us in the right direction without giving us the answer.”
Maryville’s specific project focused on saving the fewer than 400 remaining Ploughshare Tortoises in Madagascar. The proposed solution enhances existing protections through artificial intelligence and machine learning, which involves teaching computers to perform tasks using patterns and inference rather than explicit instructions.
Team member data science major Nisha Verma compared it to humans learning through frequent repetition. “We train the machine with the same data again, again and again,” Verma said. “If something is going on in your life again and again and again, you will never forget that thing, right?”
Verma and others on the Maryville team said the process sharpened not only their technical skills but also their ability to prioritize and divide up tasks, identify and network with subject-matter experts and motivate and negotiate with teammates.
“It feels like a great leap forward,” said cybersecurity major Cullen Mertens, another team member. “Maryville is constantly giving us opportunities for internships and jobs, but the skills we learned through this competition will be especially beneficial in our future careers.”
Also on the Maryville team were Giniya Gupta, Dipak Sunar and Vamshi Kanderao. Members of each university’s team walked away with many practical benefits just for having participated in the competition, including free T-REX workspace for one year.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency invited each team to give their presentation to a roomful of NGA directors, and NGA’s chief ventures officer Christy Monaco asked each participant to provide the agency with a resume. “We want first access to your future,” Monaco said. “There’s so much the NGA can learn from you.”
The competition also offered Maryville University its own learning experience, according to Liu. “This competition can help Maryville assess our programs to better benefit our students,” he said. “And it helps us figure out how our programs compare to other similar programs in the greater St. Louis area. Although our win shows we already have one of the most outstanding data science programs in the area.”