Three DSU teams place in annual analytics competition
March 19, 2025
Three teams of Dakota State University students earned the top three spots in the third annual DSU Data Analytics Competition on March 17.
Through two rounds of competition, teams evaluated big data sets to make data forecasts for real-world business needs. This year’s problem was developed by Sanford Health and asked participants to use a claims data set to create an advanced statistical algorithm. to forecast monthly volume/cash outlay three to six months in advance.
A total of 13 teams participated in the competition from universities in Minnesota and South Dakota, including the South Dakota School of Mines and University of South Dakota. Four DSU teams were named finalists and presented their results in front of judges, who selected the winners. The four judges for this year’s contest were Dr. Clark Casarella, Sanford Health; Sujit Kumar Karri, Sanford Health; Tiati Bailey, Sanford Health; Austin Amdahl, Sanford Health; Dr. Austin O’Brien, DSU; and Jessi McEntaffer, S.D. Bureau of Information and Telecommunications.
The team Normalized Pulsars earned first place, winning $2,500. The team members included Tara Freeburg, Irina Pecherskaia, Andrew Smith, Cora Heidinger, and Joelle Malacko. Their advisor was Dr. Andy Behrens.
The second-place team, Not artificial INTELLIGENT, won $1,500. The team included Justin Tamondong, Amy Collins, and Nathan Pabst. Dr. David Zeng acted as their advisor.
Team Global Analytics took third place, earning $1,000. The team was made up of Uyaruun Purevdorj, Ashwani Verma, and Sarun Bhatta. Zeng also served as their advisor.