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Students from Holland ¼â½ÐÊÓƵ’s one-year Data Analytics Post-Graduate Certificate program received a Judges’ Choice Award for their submission to the Ocean of Data Challenge, a virtual event where participants use one or more types of ocean data to create a solution to a challenge related to protecting and sustaining coastal regions. Mohit Chadha and Karen Amemasor took on the challenge with support from fellow student Samuel Asare.

Students and recent graduates from post-secondary institutions across Atlantic Canada were invited to use vessel, ecosystem, and community data to tackle climate-related challenges and propose impactful solutions to protect and sustain our coastal regions. The theme of the challenge this year was Coastal Clarity, which asked participants to explore how coastal monitoring data can be leveraged to develop innovative solutions that enhance the resilience of our coastlines. Participants answered the ultimate question: How can we promote coastal resilience.

The students looked at data that would help them develop a way to improve vessel traffic management and safety in Nova Scotia by identifying high-risk zones in the waters through data-driven analysis. Using ship movement data, they applied clustering techniques to identify traffic hotspots based on the latitude and longitude of vessels, enabling them to pinpoint areas with dense traffic that could lead to accidents or environmental risks. 

“Our Data Analytics students were competing against students from across the region, so garnering the Judges Choice Award was no small feat,” said Program Manager Allison Doughart. “We are very proud of their performance in this important event.” 

The Ocean of Data Challenge is an initiative of DeepSense and the . The two organizations decided to join forces to create an event that demonstrates the importance of ocean data and encourages interdisciplinary thinking.