UF Data Science & Informatics at Hacklytics

UF Students Win Big at Georgia’s Largest Data Science Competition

Last month the Data Science & Informatics Student Organization (DSI) coordinated with Beyond120 and the Department of Statistics to fund 56 students to compete at Hacklytics, Georgia Tech’s annual data science competition. Among 1000 competitors from around the world, UF students walked away with six awards spanning multiple competition tracks and sponsor challenges.

This makes it the third time that DSI supports students to participate in external competitions. DSI, a student organization at the University of Florida and now considered the largest data science and AI organization in the state of Florida, prepares its members through technical workshops, student-led research projects, and hands-on training – all of which were put to the test at Hacklytics.

Shayaan Nesargi, Lalitha Kantam and Sarah Spellman earned 1st Place in the Entertainment Track, while Pranav Bhargava, Dominick Dupuy, John Riley and Ilan Danial took 1st Place in the Actian Vector AI Database Challenge. Fabio Jorge, Paul Bobev, Jie Tao and Linwei Zhang captured both 1st Place in the Sports Track and 2nd Place in the Figma Design Challenge. Luana Kunzler Maldaner, Jaime Breitkreutz, Vivienne McGaha and Nicolas Murguia placed 3rd in the Entertainment Track. Nikhil Sangamkar, Jhonathan Herrera and Gael Garcia won Best Use of Sphinx API, and Sivan Reddy Pushpagiri was recognized for Best Use of Vultr.

“For many students the only barrier to participate is funding, and in DSI’s 10 year history we have always sought to make knowledge and opportunity accessible to all” said Matheus Kunzler Maldaner, second-time President of DSI.

“These results show what’s possible when students are given the resources and support to push beyond the classroom. Hacklytics wasn’t just about competing, it was about collaboration, creativity, and proving that UF students can stand out on a global stage” said Pranav Bhargava, Treasurer of DSI.

Experiences like Hacklytics give UF students the opportunity to apply skills developed through the organization’s workshops and projects to real-world problems in a competitive setting. In the past year, DSI has hosted more than 20 technical workshops and was awarded the UF Student Organization of the Year award in Spring 2025. DSI continues to expand opportunities for students to build, compete and grow, always seeking to making knowledge accessible to all.

Read more at the Data Science and Informatics Linkedin page.