D. E. Shaw India Announces Winners of Machine Learning-Focused Coding Challenge

"D. E. Code" machine learning hackathon challenges coders from top colleges across India with cutting-edge technology applications in finance.

HYDERABAD, India, Nov. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- D. E. Shaw India Private Limited ("DESIS"), a part of the D. E. Shaw group, a global investment and technology development firm, announced the winners of "D. E. Code", its first coding hackathon focused on a complex machine learning challenge. Over 700 students at 21 of India's most prestigious colleges responded to the challenge during the past few weeks.  DESIS invited 26 national finalists to its office in Hyderabad for the second phase of the challenge on November 17, where three winners were selected: First Prize was awarded to Vangala Sai Hemanth, a student at IIT Roorkee; Second Prize was awarded to Chaitanya Sai Alaparthi, a student at IIIT Hyderabad; and Third Prize was awarded to Vishal Agrawal, a student at BITS Goa.

Krishna Kattirisetti, director and member of the leadership team at DESIS, said, "The D. E. Shaw group has been built by constantly innovating and investing in new technologies. The D. E. Code hackathon, which was focused this year on machine learning and data science, provides an opportunity for young coders from some of our best colleges to understand cutting-edge technology applications in finance. We congratulate the three winners for the analytical rigor and creative thinking they demonstrated in cracking the code."

Vangala Sai Hemanth, a student at IIT Roorkee, won First Prize and said, "I got introduced to machine learning through D. E. Code. I started exploring machine learning only about one month ago, when I started preparing for the hackathon. This is my first competition in this area, and it was very different from competitive coding in terms of the way you need to think. I was thrilled that the problems were related to real-life situations. I don't think I'll ever forget D. E. Code. I think it would be a dream to work at a company like D. E. Shaw India, which has such an amazing work culture."

At the DESIS campus, the national finalists gained exposure to the firm's technology groups, which work on a variety of projects, including real-time financial data-feed infrastructure, high performance middleware, interactive trading systems, portfolio management, workflow tools, and quantitative analysis tools that support the D. E. Shaw group's global investment activities.

D. E. Code National Finalists:

Sneh Gupta, IIIT Hyderabad
Shubham Kumar, IIIT Hyderabad
Chaitanya Sai Alaparthi, IIIT Hyderabad, Second Prize Winner
Rajas Mangesh Vanjape, IIIT Hyderabad
Vinay Singh, IIIT Hyderabad
Vatsal Nagda, IIIT Hyderabad
Sanka Naga Sai Akhila Kumuda Priya, IIT Hyderabad
Aditya Shah, BITS Pilani
Vishal Agrawal, BITS Goa, Third Prize Winner
Arpit Chaudhary, IIT BHU
Prayas Jain, IIT BHU
Devang Kulshreshtha, IIT BHU
Kanav, IIT Kharagpur
Shivam Agarwal, IIT Kharagpur
Vangala Sai Hemanth, IIT Roorkee, First Prize Winner
Harsha Vardhan Miryala, IIT Roorkee
Arjav Jain, MNNIT Allahabad
Anshal Dwivedi, MNNIT Allahabad
Akshay Sharma, MNNIT Allahabad
Nikhil Tarte, NIT Waranga
Yogesh T, PSG Coimbatore

Hyderabad has been DESIS's home for more than two decades, and the firm is one of the founders of Hyderabad's information technology industry.  DESIS first set up an IT development center in Hyderabad in 1996, and subsequently grew the business into a broad range of software and financial activities. DESIS's headquarters in Hyderabad, which was custom built for the firm in 2015, has state-of-the-art workspaces that are configured into informal work areas to facilitate the firm's collaborative work style and ethos.

About D. E. Shaw India Private Limited
D. E. Shaw India Private Limited ("DESIS") is a part of the D. E. Shaw group, a global investment and technology development firm founded in 1988 with more than $43 billion in investment capital as of July 1, 2017, and offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. Additional information regarding D. E. Shaw India is available at https://www.deshawindia.com/.

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