One of the fundamental missions of Pitt Business is to take our students from the classroom to the city, to the world. That’s why we bring companies from their offices into our classrooms.
For the first time, the University of Pittsburgh welcomed the Alteryx SparkED Datathon to campus in November 2023. Undergraduates from Pitt Business, the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Computing and Information, and the Swanson School of Engineering competed to win $1,500 in prizes.
Each of the six teams was paired with a mentor from Alteryx or BNY Mellon to help them solve the case using the Alteryx software. This software simplifies end-to-end data automation, making data analytics accessible to enterprises for various purposes. The case tasked students with presenting trends in movies, distributors/studios, and genres given specific data sets. They were also asked to showcase how they can use this data to predict what factors may change over the coming years.
Value for Students
The team of Shreya Rajaram (BSBA ’23), Wyatt Schroth (’25), and Bradley Wiggins (’24) took home the top prize of $1,000. Second place was team RCMBA representing the undergraduate Roberto Clemente Minority Business Association. Members of this team included Katherine Bollinger (’25), Oluwatunmise Fadare (’25), and Vladimir Sanchez (’25).
All students spoke highly of this event. Rajaram says, “Case competitions are a great way to enhance one’s analytical, creative thinking, and presentation skills, and I’ve been able to speak to my experiences with them during interviews and other networking events. The knowledge and experience I’ve gained through these competitions is invaluable to me as I navigate my career and life post-graduation.”
The skillset development for post-graduation was a common thread. Wiggins says, “This opportunity allowed me to work toward my dream career of working with large amounts of data. I have the skills to use Alteryx in combination with other workflow programs like Tableau.”
Schroth says he developed a handful of skills through this challenge. “As a student interested in entrepreneurship, agility is critical, and this competition allowed me to think on my feet and think creatively to find a realistic solution given the time crunch.”
Vendor Partnerships
The Datathon was brought to Pitt to create a valuable experience for everyone involved. Kim Yohannan, SparkED education manager at Alteryx, says, “We wanted to give Pitt students the chance to develop modern data analytics skills that will help them in their academic studies, as well as their future professional work.”
Sandra Brandon – strategy and innovation leader in the University’s Office of the Chief Information Officer – believes partnerships between vendor companies, like Alteryx, and the University are a “win-win.” She says, “For students, this is real-world skill training that can boost their resume. For partners, they get to share their product and connect with up-and-coming students.”
Yohannan echoes this sentiment, saying, “Organizations and education institutions can come together to accelerate relationships and build a talent pool of skilled data-driven graduates looking for job opportunities.”
BNY Mellon, a Dean’s Circle partner with Pitt Business, uses Alteryx in multiple business units across their company. Their relationship was the bridge that led Alteryx to Pitt. “Alteryx and BNY Mellon understand the importance of providing students with experiential learning opportunities to apply what they know to solve a business question using data, and that is exactly the purpose of a Datathon,” Yohannan notes.
Looking to the future, Yohannan would love to run another Datathon at Pitt. She believes there is room to expand it to include a learning component for faculty and an additional Alteryx workshop learning series for students.
The Intersection of Data and Business
Data analytics is of growing importance within business education. In 2022, the undergraduate curriculum was updated to add new course requirements in analytics. Pitt Business offers an undergraduate major and certificate in business analytics, setting students up for success as they head out into the fast-paced working world with the skills they need.
“I would highly advocate for any student interested in data analytics to join this competition, as it was both super fun and challenging, in a good way,” says Wiggins.
