Hackathon Registration: Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR) ML Challenge - Scientific Modeling out of Distribution (Scientific-MOOD)

Challenge goal: Predict out of domain biological, ecological, and environmental data using AI/ML tools
Challenge timeline: Challenge runs through January 31st, 2026. 
Challenge prizes include: 
💰 Total cash prizes $4000
👩🏽‍💻 Cloud credits from AWS and NVIDIA for the winners.
☁︎ NVIDIA is also providing $400 in cloud credits to teams for training on their model.
🎖️ Prize from AMD TBD
🏆 Special jury prizes include funded invitations to present their solution at award ceremony
*There may be additional prizes yet to be determined.

Event purpose: Provide an introduction to the challenge, a venue for team formation, and resources to get teams started.

Event Details: 
Join us for an in-person hackathon event at the University of Colorado Boulder! This event will provide an introduction to the NSF Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR) Machine Learning Challenge, including a venue to form a team and get started with a submission. 

This two-day event will include a "main" day (Friday, Dec. 12) and an optional "working" day (Monday, Dec. 15). The main day will include presentations on each of the three benchmarks used for this year's challenge, an overview of the Codabench platform, an overview of CyVerse compute resources that will be available to participants, and a code-along session to demonstrate how to create a submission for the challenge. All the remaining time will be dedicated to team formation and trying out the challenge, all with organizers available to answer questions.

Note on experience: This event is intended to bring together participants with varied areas of expertise (e.g., computer science, environmental science, biology, etc.) for an interdisciplinary problem solving challenge.  Some coding experience (e.g., Python, R, etc.) is recommended, but this event is open to participants from any career stage (e.g., students, postdocs, researchers, faculty, private sector scientists and developers, etc.) and background.

Where: 4001 Discovery Dr (SEEC Building), CU Boulder East Campus

Price: $0, there are no registration costs for this event.

Day 1 (main day): 
  • Friday December 12, 2025, 8:30am - 5pm MST
  • Room: VizStudio (SEEC S372)
Day 2 (office hours, space to work):
  • Monday December 15, 2025, 8:30am - 5pm MST
  • Room: Sievers Room (SEEC S228)
Learn more about the HDR ML Challenge here and prize info here.
Questions? Please email Eric Sokol at esokol@battelleecology.org.

Seats are limited, so sign up now!
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Name *
Affiliation *
Please select the career stage that best represents you: *
I will attend the following day(s): *
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GitHub Username (new users, create account here)
CyVerse Username (create an account here)
What experience do you have with coding/programming?

Introductory/Beginner learners can:
1) open and run an interactive notebook or script
2) import libraries/packages
3) store values in variables
4) perform mathematical calculations
5) run some built-in functions

Intermediate learners can:
1) use code to work with tabular (.csv), geometric (.shp, .gpkg), and raster (.tif, .nc, etc.) data
2) create maps and plots using code
3) group, aggregate, and summarize data

Advanced learners can:
1) run computations repeatedly using loops or vectorized functions
2) use conditionals (if/then) to control program flow, cache data and computations, and/or run tests and checks
3) use APIs to access data
4) write their own functions
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