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December 10, 2014

Teradata University Network Names Winners of Analytics Contest

ATLANTA, Ga., Dec. 10 — Teradata University Network has named the winners of its inaugural contest on analytics. The winners were selected from a highly competitive field of finalist teams of university undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. students. Nine teams presented their research at the Teradata 2014 PARTNERS Conference & Expo. The conference was sponsored in part by Teradata Corp., the big data analytics and marketing applications company.

Developed to provide a showcase for the bright-minded data-driven workforce of the future, the theme for the competition was “Solving Business Issues with Big Data and Analytics.” Students were also exposed to a variety of analytics fields and internship and job opportunities in areas such as integrated marketing management, data integration, big data analytics and operations.

“The original research projects presented by these students were significant and complex, with real value and applicability to business problems. They demonstrated the accelerated learning that takes place when we’re able to teach with the analytics tools and complex data sets that businesses use today,” said Ramesh Sharda, executive director of the board for Teradata University Network and Regents Professor of Management Science and Information Systems in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University.

Winners were named in three categories: Most Promising Research/Advancing Science; Most Practical/Business Value; and, the People’s Choice Best Presentation. The winning teams are:

Most Promising Research / Advancing Science Award

Visualizing Invisible Networks of Knowledge – A Social Network Analysis of Scientific Publications. Presented by Mohammadmahdi (Mahdi) Moqri, with Brent Kitchens and Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay – University of Florida.

Most Practical / Business Value Award

Felice’s Roman Style Pizza; A Study in Data Consolidation and Analytics. Presented by
Roderick Dayton, with Madeline Mills, Natalie Perkins and Vasyl Ilchyshyn – Loyola University Chicago

People’s Choice / Best Presentation Award

Analytics for Autism. Presented by Naznin Larya and Emily Edkins, with Laura Lebeau, Sarah Mucerino and Matt Soroczak – Loyola University Chicago

Each finalist team made a formal presentation to conference attendees and Teradata University Network faculty board members. They also shared their work with attendees in the exhibition hall. The winner of the Research Award was determined by Teradata University Network faculty board members. The winners of the Most Practical/Business Value Award and the People’s Choice/Best Presentation Award were determined by conference attendees.

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