A group of students posing for a photo in front of a large window in a high rise building.
Several ETAMU students from across multiple academic disciplines performed well during the Alteryx Datathon. | Photo courtesy of the College of Business.

ETAMU Students Turn Data into Real-World Solutions at Alteryx Datathon

Students from across East Texas A&M University applied their analytical skills to real-world challenges during this fall's Alteryx Datathon, demonstrating the university's growing emphasis on data-driven problem solving, hands-on learning, and industry collaboration.

More than 20 students representing multiple academic programs participated in the multi-stage competition, which blended advanced analytical tools, applied case work and professional-level presentations evaluated by leaders from KPMG, Capitalize and Nova Geographica.

The Datathon featured an in-depth Alteryx training session on October 21 led by Deanna Sanchez, a seven-time Alteryx ACE and founder of Nova Geographica LLC. Sanchez and her team supported students with software installation and platform onboarding, while Capitalize provided the realistic datasets used in the challenge and offered industry context throughout the competition timeline.

From November 6 to November 12, students worked through a complex emergency-department operations case from Meridian City Hospital, which manages more than 400 patient visits per day with fewer than 40% being seen within 15 minutes, average wait times exceeding 45 minutes and total patient encounters stretching to nearly 2.5 hours. To address this scenario, participants used Alteryx, Power BI and Tableau to create a functioning workflow, a 5–8 slide narrated presentation and an executive summary outlining data-backed recommendations. The structure was intentionally designed to simulate real consulting and analytics deliverables, requiring students to demonstrate technical mastery, strategic reasoning and strong communication skills

Competition Results

During the final presentations, judges recognized several standout teams for their innovative solutions, clear analytics, and professionalism:

First Place – $1,200
Team Sparkline

  • Jennifer Olatunde-Thorpe (MS in Business Analytics)
  • Marzuka Sultana (MS in Business Analytics)
  • Priyanka Rakhewar (MS in Business Analytics)
  • Taiye Moses Olorunfemi (MS in Business Analytics)
  • Smriti Bhatt (MS in Business Analytics)

Second Place – $800
ETAMU Batch 2025

  • Sanjib Lamichhane (MS in Artificial Intelligence)
  • Nibhal Tamrakar (MS in Business Analytics)
  • Manushi Parajuli (MS in Business Analytics)
  • MD Yeasin Khan (MS in Business Analytics)

Third Place – $400
Data Pulse

  • Riyaz Shaikh (MS in Business Analytics)
  • Rithika Nagpal (MS in Business Analytics)
  • Sohail Muhammad
  • Fnu Ritika (MS in Business Analytics)

Honorable Mention – $100

ACM

  • Tejaswini Kannah (MS in Computer Science)
  • Mukesh Ravichandran (MS in Computer Science)
  • Anosha Rehan (MS in Computer Science)

Industry judges praised the depth and quality of East Texas A&M student work.

“It was a true privilege to collaborate with ETAMU and observe the students learning Alteryx so quickly,” Sanchez said. “Within just a couple of weeks, they were developing workflows that generated valuable insights. I am deeply impressed with the quality of their solutions and the level of preparation demonstrated by ETAMU students.”
Garrett Stoker, senior associate at KPMG, added, “Every student that participated was new to Alteryx, but you wouldn't know it by reviewing their workflows. The level of understanding they demonstrated was extremely impressive, especially given the short timeline.”

Students shared that the Datathon strengthened their teamwork, technical fluency, and ability to communicate insights clearly—while also giving them valuable exposure to industry expectations and networking opportunities with professionals from KPMG, Capitalize and Nova Geographica. The experience reflects ETAMU's continued commitment to preparing students for high-demand fields in business analytics, AI, information systems and computational sciences by engaging them with authentic, real-world challenges.