The Hudson River Valley has been intensely studied by scientists for decades. Yet despite the tremendous discoveries made in the region, many of the scientific stories are not well understood by students or the public.

That's why we began the Hudson Data Jam Competition. Started in 2014, the competition challenges students to creatively tell the science stories of the Hudson River watershed. Middle and high school students from the Hudson Valley and beyond are invited to participate. This competition occurs annually each spring!

Data Jammers start by immersing themselves in ecological and social-ecological datasets that have been collected by professional scientists, including Cary Institute ecologists. They look for trends and draw conclusions about the patterns they see in the data. Once students have a solid understanding of their data, they express their findings using a creative method of their choice. Students in the past have done this by transforming their data into songs, raps, 3-D models, skits, music, puzzles, games, stop-motion videos, and more!

We believe that the skills of understanding, interpreting, and presenting data are essential in a world where our ability to collect data outpaces our ability to make it understandable for a public audience. We hope students’ Data Jam creations, and everything they learn in the process, can help close this gap.

Click here to learn more about participating.