This Friday, October 31, marks the registration deadline for the 4th Annual National Data4Good Analytics Competition – a national platform where undergraduate and master’s students apply data and technology to solve real-world challenges. The Data4Good Competition is open to undergraduate and master’s students across the U.S. Teams compete within their regions for cash prizes, with regional winners advancing to present at Johns Hopkins University’s Carey School of Business.
While the name highlights analytics, the deeper story is about stewardship: how we use our skills and knowledge to serve others and make meaningful impact. This competition goes beyond technical ability. It’s an invitation to strengthen consulting-style problem solving, analytical expertise, and collaboration through purpose-driven projects. Participants engage in professional development sessions, earn free industry certifications, and connect with leading corporate sponsors – all while using data for good.
Since its founding in 2022, Data4Good has brought together students, educators, and industry leaders to collaborate on data solutions that create social impact:
- 2022: Students partners with SIL Global to create captions for children’s Bible stories in low-resource languages.
- 2023: Teams improved healthcare documentation using AI models to structure physician-patient transcripts from a Prediction Guard client.
- 2024: In collaboration with the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), students analyzed grief data to support families of fallen service members.
- 2025: This year’s challenge focuses on improving the factuality of AI-generated educational content, provided by Prediction Guard, to promote truth in an era of misinformation.
Together, these projects have awarded more than $110,000 in student prizes and led over 1,500 students to earn Microsoft certifications in Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) or Artificial Intelligence Fundamentals (AI-900).
Data4Good thrives on strong partnerships and our success is made possible through the support of:
- Dr. Dan Whitenack, CEO of Prediction Guard
- Aaron Burciaga, CEO of ZETEC
- Nick Ulmer, Principal OR Analyst at CANA
- Carol Curley and Bill Griffin of INFORMS
- Mafer Bencomo of DataCamp
- Dr. Lori Downen, Rochelle Fisher, and Liz Moran of SAS
Through these partnerships, students engage with INFORMS and the Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) framework, learning stewardship through structured problem-solving and ethics. DataCamp expands our reach by providing a global learning platform. While SAS’ Global Academic Programs continues to model and lead analytics education.
As Liz Moran of SAS shares, “Data4Good Competition is about more than analytics – it’s about using the data to make a difference. When students tackle real-world challenges, they see firsthand how their skills can create positive change.”
The Lacy School of Business is proud to be a sponsor of this national competition, advancing data-driven innovation and ethical decision-making through education. Leading the charge is our Assistant Professor of Business Technology & Analytics, Dr. Matthew A. Lanham, who teaches predictive and prescriptive analytics at LSB and was recently honored with the 2025 Inaugural INFORMS Data Mining Society Teaching Award for his impact on students within and beyond the classroom. His research focuses on integrating predictive models within optimization models and improving analytics education, reflecting the same spirit of innovation at the heart of the Data4Good competition.
Ready to use data for good? Registration for the 2025 Data4Good Competition closes Friday, October 31. Don’t miss your chance to apply data and AI to a real-world challenge and compete alongside peers nationwide.
