Datathon Challenges Students and Inspires Teamwork

The atmosphere was electric at UTA Central Library as dozens of teams gathered for the highly anticipated 2023 Datathon on April 15.  

Teams of students worked together at the UTA Libraries' first Datathon event to solve real-world type challenges. Students used data science tools and techniques to solve problems they were given during the 24-hour event. 

Some of the skills students used to solve these problems included networking, teamwork and building relationships. 

Rubab Shahzad, a data visualization librarian, shared the feedback she received from participants indicating that the event was a success. She hopes to build upon the foundation of this year's event to make the 2024 Datathon even better. 

"If you are interested and had a good time at the Datathon, we'll have some similar workshops coming up, hopefully in summer and fall as well," Rubab said. "Follow us on Instagram throughout the year to watch for upcoming events." 

Along with problem-solving challenges, there were several workshops hosted by professionals who shared their knowledge with students. Some topics covered in the workshops include machine learning, augmented reality, data visualization and intro to data science.  

Uma Syed, an aerospace engineering major, stated that she saw the Datathon as a great way to get experience solving problems you could face as a professional.  

"I am looking forward to the workshops and all of the challenges that they are going to give out because I want to learn code," Uma said. 

Fellow aerospace engineering major, Zoila Martinez, stated she looked forward to learning how data analysis could be applied to different problems. She said that she was curious about how to use those skills in her future career.  

 One of the event sponsors, MathWorks, demonstrated its MatLab programming platform at the Datathon. This platform is designed specifically for engineers and scientists to analyze and develop systems and products.  

Armando Garcia, MathWorks Senior Customer Success Engineer, stated that MathWorks is proud to support UTA and its students. As part of the event, MathWorks hosted one of the data challenges.  

"The challenge consists of building a fitness tracker using machine learning. Hopefully, this will be a fun event for the students to learn how to use machine learning for something that is very relatable and applicable," Armando said. "It will be good practice for them to go into the industry with those skills." 

Rubab thanked the event's sponsors, MathWorks and the UTA Computer Science and Math Departments, for their continued support. She also thanked the Association for Computing Machinery UTA student chapter, who helped organize the Datathon. 

 

The UTA Datathon has started a tradition of collaboration, innovation, learning and exploring the power of data. UTA Libraries looks forward to building upon this exciting new field in 2024 and beyond. 

To get future updates on upcoming Datathon events, follow their Instagram page UTA Datathon at https://www.instagram.com/utadatathon.