Already more than 125 undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. students have participated in the first two datathons, which took place at the University of California at Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on February 10 and February 24, respectively. Participants demonstrated their data science skills and talents by collaborating and competing with each other to analyze large and complex data sets.

Citadel and Citadel Securities datathons will take place throughout the year at a series of top universities. At each event, participants form teams to work through a large and complex dataset and then present their findings to a panel of judges. Teams compete for a cash prize pool of $25,000. Winning teams also have the opportunity to interview for careers at Citadel and Citadel Securities, including for quantitative research, data science, software engineering, trading, and investment roles.

The datathon series will conclude with an event later this year where top participants from each datathon will gather to compete at "The Data Open" for the chance to win a $100,000 prize presented by Citadel CEO Ken Griffin.

"The most important driver of our success at Citadel is our ability to attract and develop the top talent in finance and technology," Griffin said. "We look for individuals who share our passion for tackling the most interesting and critical challenges that touch global markets. I'm thrilled to provide an opportunity for some of the world's most innovative thinkers to showcase their problem-solving skills through these competitions."

"Continuing to find the world's best data scientists is of critical importance to Citadel Securities, and we are always exploring new ways to identify and hire talented undergrad and graduate students from multiple disciplines, such as math, statistics, physics, computer science, and financial engineering," said Citadel Securities CEO Peng Zhao. "Exceptional talent has always fueled the growth of our firm, which is why we are launching and committing to this program at this scale."