The inaugural MindBridge Data Science Challenge, held in partnership with the Carleton University Institute for Data Science (CUIDS), invited students to build AI models capable of detecting anomalies in financial data. Over eight weeks, participants worked with a modified credit card transaction dataset, applying machine learning techniques to uncover fraud and digit-pattern irregularities.
The competition launched on May 28 with a lecture by Dr. Aras Kayvan, Senior Data Scientist at MindBridge, who introduced students to outlier analysis—a key concept in identifying unusual patterns in large datasets. From there, students were tasked with designing code-based solutions that balanced technical rigor, creativity, and clarity of insight.
Congratulations to Amin Nabavi, a Ph.D. student in the DSAAI program, who finished first place, who earned a MacBook Pro and a guaranteed interview for a paid internship at MindBridge. Second place was awarded to Mohammad Reza Zarei, a Ph.D. student in the Computer Science program, and third to Ahmed Elnimah—both of whom also received tech prizes and internship interviews.
Please visit the Ottawa Life website here for more information on the MindBridge Data Science Challenge.