The first-place team at the third annual OSU Datathon included Jonas Jackman, Evelyn Larson, Brenden Martin and Nathan May. The team was coached by Jae Rett Tan of Hobby Lobby.

Students compete for $15k in scholarships at annual Datathon event

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Media Contact: Jeff Hopper | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-1050 | jeff.hopper@okstate.edu

The third annual OSU Datathon, an analytics-based case competition, took place from Feb. 29-March 1 in the Spears School of Business. Hosted by OSU’s Data Analytics Club, 80 OSU students (20 teams) from a variety of majors across campus competed for $15,000 in scholarships, nearly double the number of participation from last year. Corporate sponsors for the event included Boeing, ConocoPhillips and Love’s Travel Stores, who provided the supply chain dataset used in the competition.

The two-day event is designed for students to gain hands-on, résumé worthy experience with the data analytics process. Teams were tasked with importing and analyzing the Love’s Travel Stores dataset, then creating visualizations and prescriptive models, and presenting their insights to a panel of industry experts.

This year’s winning team, earning $8,000 in scholarships, was Jonas Jackman (BS Electrical Engineering), Evelyn Larson (BSBA Marketing Research and Analytics), Brenden Martin (MS Electrical Engineering) and Nathan May (BS Physics). The team was coached by Jae Rett Tan of Hobby Lobby.

Coaches from the analytics field guided each team as well as judged the competition. Companies represented included ConradBI, Hobby Lobby, DeMar Consulting Group Analytics, Boeing, FAA, EY, Tenstreet, Casino Cashtrac, Diamondback Energy, Textron Aviation, Smith-Nephew, Associated Steel Group, BOK Financial, Credera, Devon Energy, Extend, Flint Hills Resources (Koch), InterWorks, ONE Gas, OneOK, Phillips 66 and Williams.

“The student teams all had unique approaches to the problem, and it was a great learning experience for everyone,” said Kim Strom, co-advisor of the Data Analytics Club. “Our industry experts were impressed with all the teams and the level of analytic talent that OSU has developed in its students.”

Other winning teams were:

Second place ($4,000): Kyler Baldwin (BSBA Accounting/ Management Information Systems), Wesley Cannatti (BSBA Data Analytics/Business Management), Tristan Schwartz (BSBA Management Information Systems) and Kartikaya Srivastava (MS Business Analytics and Data Science). The team was coached by Tracey McFarland, FAA.

Third place ($2,000): Cole Aldridge (BS Computer Science), Caleb Blackwell (BS Ag Economics), Peyton Hughes (BSBA Finance) and Brenden Kienholz (BS Finance/Economics/Accounting). The team was coached by Trevor Craig, InterWorks.

Fourth place ($1,000): Sai Bhargava Reddy Kanala (MS Business Analytics and Data Science), Sophia Partridge (BSBA Management Information Systems), Taylor Post (BSBA Management Information Systems) and Ezok Villalva (BSBA Economics). The team was coached by Carter Stokeld, Williams.

Go to the website for more information on the Data Analytics Club.

Datathon second place — The second-place team included Kyler Baldwin, Wesley Cannatti, Tristan Schwartz and Kartikaya Srivastava, and was coached by Tracey McFarland, FAA.

Datathon third place — The third-place team included Cole Aldridge, Caleb Blackwell, Peyton Hughes and Brenden Kienholz, and was coached by Trevor Craig, InterWorks.

Datathon fourth place — The fourth-place team included Sai Bhargava Reddy Kanala, Sophia Partridge, Taylor Post and Ezok Villalva, and was coached by Carter Stokeld, Williams.