The Curiosity Cup
A Global SAS Student Competition
The Curiosity Cup brings student teams together from across the globe for a competition of real-world analytics skills. This is the ultimate group project that will test – and grow – your knowledge of data science and analytics.
Round 1 of the 2025 SAS Curiosity Cup is complete!
We received high-quality paper submissions from 112 teams from around the globe.
Those papers were reviewed and scored by 25 industry consultants. Each paper was scored three times, and 15 teams move on to round two.
Congratulations to the 15 Finalist Teams! We look forward to the creativity of your video presentations.
All teams who submitted papers will be contacted soon with their scores, rank and comments (if provided by the judges), and instructions to claim your participant badges.
| Team Name | Academic Institution | Country | Title of the paper |
| Chaos Explorers | Universidad Iberoamericana | Mexico | Impact Patterns of California Wildfires |
| Data Doctors | The University of Alabama | US | Predicting Heart Disease Using Machine Learning |
| ORSOL-Synthetic Data | Purdue University | US | Evaluating Time Series Synthetic Data: A Correlation-Based Champion Selection |
| Byte Wizards | Northeastern University | Canada | Unlocking Startup Success: Insights Through Mode |
| Peaches | SUNY at Albany | US | Analyzing the Association Between Food Insecurity and Developmental Outcomes in Early Childhood |
| Data ACES | University of Santo Tomas | Philippines | Predictive Model Trends: Predicting Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease |
| Math Mavericks | Universiti Selangor | Malaysia | Insights on Medically Certified and Non-Certified Deaths in Malaysia |
| ByteStorm | University of The East- Manila | Philippines | Leadership in Context: A Comparative Analysis of Rhetoric, Key Themes, and Sentiments in Philippine Presidential Speeches |
| NOT the CAT | Sunway University | Malaysia | Predictive Modelling for Superstore |
| Probability Team | IPB University | Indonesia | Clustering of Earthquake Areas on Sulawesi Island: A Study of Seismic Data and Population Density |
| DataMind | University of Padua | Italy | Social Media use Among Italian Older Adults: A Weighted Analysis of Facebook Survey Data |
| Machine Learning Dynamite | Anglia Ruskin University | UK | Development of Breast Cancer Detection Tool |
| World Air Analysts | Universitatea Babes-Bolyai | Romania | Analysis of GDP and Mortality Rate Based on Air Pollution in a Selection of Cities |
| Quantum-Thinkers | University Of Sadat City | Egypt | Drugs Supply Optimization Using SAS® Viya |
| The News Miners | Universitatea Babes-Bolyai | Romania | The Role of Media in Shaping AI Public Perception |
Curiosity Cup 2025 at a glance
Teams of students and faculty advisors from all over the world joined us for the 2025 Curiosity Cup. The competition challenged the next generation of analytics experts to explore, analyze and learn from data on topics that inspired their curiosity.
112 teams
29 countries
360 students
25 industry consultants
Check out the top three Curiosity Cup winners from 2024
Data Preparation:
Brain Team
Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation
Malaysia
Data Analysis:
Data Detectives
University of Economics in Bratislava
Slovakia
Data Presentation:
Data Crusaders
University of Texas at San Antonio
US
Click here to see the papers submitted by the 2024 winning teams.
Team Requirements
- Teams must consist of two to four students.
- Participants must be at least 18 years of age and enrolled as a part-time or full-time student at the time the round one paper entry is submitted (or have graduated no earlier than Oct. 1, 2024).
- Teams must have a faculty or educator adviser.
Important Dates
- Registration opens Dec. 1, 2024.
- Registrations must be submitted no later than Jan. 31, 2025.
- Papers can be submitted between Dec. 15, 2024, and Feb. 21, 2025. Click here to see the papers submitted by the 2024 winning teams.
- Up to 15 teams will be selected for round two and notified on or around March 5, 2025.
- Video presentations for round two participants are due by March 26, 2025.
- The top two teams (winner and runner-up) in each of the three domains will be announced around April 16, 2025.
Competition Guidelines
Teams can choose their own SAS learning software, data and analytical question(s) for the competition.
- SAS software allowed:
- SAS OnDemand for Academics.
- SAS® Viya® for Learners.
- SAS Viya Workbench for Learners.*
- University-licensed SAS software.
- Data and analytical question(s):
- Student teams may choose their own data set and pose their own analytical question(s).
- Data sets must be publicly available, and entries must include a link to the data.
* SAS Viya Workbench for Learners is a development environment that supports SAS and Python. Curiosity Cup participants who use Viya Workbench for Learners may use Python but are encouraged to also show how SAS code or SAS Viya were used to advance their analysis or to visualize their results.
Judging
Teams have two rounds to highlight their skills:
- Round 1: Teams submit a two-to-five-page paper that conducts a data analysis using SAS technology and describes results to a general audience.
- Judging is based on data preparation, data analysis, data presentation and overall paper structure.
- Up to 15 teams will be chosen to compete as finalists in round 2.
- All papers must be submitted using the approved paper template. Only papers using that template will be accepted.
- Round 2: Teams submit a video presentation describing their data analysis as if given to an audience of analytical stakeholders.
- Judging is based on presentation organization, demonstrated subject knowledge, use of visuals, presentation mechanics and message.
- Complete judging information will be available in the terms and conditions and the FAQs.
Awards
All finalist teams will receive a SAS digital badge acknowledging finalist status.
- A winning and runner-up team will be declared in each of the three domains:
- Data preparation.
- Data analysis.
- Data presentation.
- Each student member of the top team in each domain may select one of the following prizes: See the terms and conditions and FAQs for more details.
- Apple iPad (approximate MSRP: US$499).
- Beats Studio Pro Wireless Headphones (approximate MSRP: $349).
- Meta Quest 3 – 128GB Breakthrough Mixed Reality Headset (approximate MSRP: $499).
* Prizes are subject to availability. In the event of a supply shortage, a comparable prize option of similar value will be offered. Only one first-place prize will be given to an individual winner regardless of the number of domains in which their respective team places first.
- Additionally, each student from a winning team will receive:
- Twelve months of access to the SAS content subscription of their choice.
- SAS digital badge acknowledging winner status.
- Each student member of the runner-up teams in each domain will receive:
- Twelve months of access to the SAS content subscription of their choice.
- SAS digital badge acknowledging finalist status.
- Complete judging information will be available in the terms and conditions and the FAQs.
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