We are thrilled to launch the second annual CMU Student IronViz Challenge! This exciting event is an opportunity to showcase your data visualization skills to your peers and CMU faculty and staff. Whether you are experienced or just getting started with learning data analytic skills, this is an opportunity to learn and demonstrate your ability to tell a compelling story with data that can be added to your portfolio. Prizes including CMU swag will be awarded for first, second, and third place! 

About the Challenge

Participating students will create a data visualization or dashboard using the provided dataset. The competition follows the same format as the national Tableau Iron Viz challenge, but we have opened up our event so that you can use whatever data visualization tool you prefer.

The competition is scheduled for Saturday, February 21, 2026 from 12-4pm (location TBD). It will be structured using a hackathon model where student teams will register in advance and then have 4 hours to build their visualization. 

• You can compete individually or form a team of up to three people. If you don’t have a team, don’t worry - we can help you find one! 

• All participants will use the same dataset which will be provided by the event organizers although they will be free to derive and visualize their own data stories from the provided dataset.

• All registered participants will have until Thursday, January 29, 2026 at 11:59pm EST to submit their individual or team projects. The in-person event is a great opportunity to finalize your projects and receive preliminary feedback from our judges before submitting your work. We highly encourage attending this event to help refine your submissions.

Information Session

Are you curious to learn more about the IronViz Challenge?  Join us on Tuesday, October 28, 2025 from 5-6 p.m. for an IronViz information session, where we'll provide an overview of the event and presentations from the Staff IronViz! The information session will be held via Zoom. Register today to receive the Zoom link!

Participant Resources

Preparing for the Competition

CMU provides many opportunities across the university that can help prepare your data skills for the competition. Here are a few opportunities for you to consider attending:

• Data Storytelling | September 11
• Data Visualization Best Practices | September 18
• Data Visualization in Tableau | October 9
• Data Visualization in R | October 23
• Introduction to Data Visualization in R Shiny | October 30
• Data Visualization for Power BI |  November 6

Frequently Asked Questions

Please reach out to our team at events@core.cmu.edu if you have any questions

2026 Student IronViz Dataset

All participants will use the same dataset although they will be free to derive and visualize their own data stories from the provided dataset. The dataset will be released closer to the start of the competition in Spring 2026.

Scoring Criteria

Judges will score all entries using the CMU Student IronViz Scoring Rubric. Participants are strongly encouraged to review the criteria in advance and refer to the rubric throughout their planning and implementation.

Digital Accessibility Guidelines

Digital accessibility guidelines are required under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and should be followed in all submissions. All dashboard developers should familiarize themselves with accessibility best practices such as maintaining color contrast between text and background colors, not using color as the only way to communicate information, and embedding alternative text or descriptive labels with images.

Questions?

Please contact events@core.cmu.edu with questions about the CMU Student IronViz Challenge.