2026 Datathon Challenges
The Data for Bobcat Challenge invites participants to work with datasets that reflect the Bobcat community and explore real-world issues in higher education. Using data provided by the Office of Data, Analytics, and Institutional Research and the University Libraries, participants are encouraged to uncover trends, identify challenges, and propose data-driven solutions that enhance institutional effectiveness and student success.
This year’s challenge features two rich datasets:
Office of Data, Analytics, and Institutional Research
- TXST Student Admissions (applied, admitted, enrolled) by Year (AY2019–2024)
- TXST Degree Completions by Year (AY2019–2024)
- TXST Student Enrollment by Year (AY2019–2024)
University Libraries
- Annual Circulation Borrowing Rates (FY2015–FY2024)
- Load Statistics by Class (FY2015–FY2024)
- Circulation of Library Materials by Location (FY2015–FY2024)
Participants may analyze these datasets individually or combine them to uncover deeper insights and cross-domain relationships. This competition provides a platform for students to apply statistical and analytical methods, demonstrate creativity, and develop solutions that support the Bobcat community.
Detailed prompts and example datasets will be provided in January. Stay tuned!
The Geospatial Insights Challenge invites participants to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial data to address pressing societal issues. Using publicly available geospatial datasets, participants are encouraged to develop innovative solutions aimed at enhancing community sustainability, resilience, and quality of life. This competition provides a platform for participants to demonstrate their analytical skills and creativity in leveraging GIS technologies to tackle real-world problems.
This year, our geospatial challenge prompts are related to Texas State’s research priorities; in particular, focusing on AI and data science, water, and health sciences. Secondly, we want to emphasize a local study area for geospatial projects—related to San Marcos, Hays County, the greater Austin-San Antonio metroplex, or Texas as a whole.
Detailed prompts and example datasets will be provided in January. Stay tuned!
The Wild Card Challenge invites participants to use an open data set or government data set of their choice to address pressing societal issues. Using publicly available open datasets, participants are encouraged to identify existing, real-world problems and develop innovative solutions. This competition provides a platform for students to explore a topic that interests them and demonstrate their analytical skills and creativity.
This year, we encourage students selecting the wild card challenge to investigate a topic related to Texas State’s research priorities; in particular, Aging and Dementia, Digital Humanities, Generative AI, and Semiconductors. However, it is not necessary for students' topic and dataset to be curated around these research priorities, and students are free to pursue a topic of their own choosing. Below are several ideas related to aging, food scarcity, and wildlife.
Detailed prompts and example datasets will be provided in January. Stay tuned!
Rubric
Datathon Presentation and Judging Rubric
View and download the TXST Open Datathon Scoring Rubric below. Teams will challenge the topic or problem provided and develop creative solutions using open data. Teams will give a brief 5-minute in-person presentation of their work to a panel of expert judges who will score each project based on this rubric.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Usage Disclosure and Verification: Teams may use AI tools for tasks such as research, data extraction, and cleaning; however, all substantive analysis and conclusions must be completed by humans. AI usage must be disclosed in the final poster and presentation, along with a brief statement verifying the accuracy of any AI-generated information. This ensures transparency, accountability, and integrity in the Open Datathon process.
TXST Open Datathon Expectations
Step 1. Select a challenge topic below
Step 2. Craft a research question. i.e. What is the correlation between library learning space use and student seniority status? (You can also use the example research questions and open data resources in the prompts document to guide your analysis).
Step 3. Explore the open-access data resources.
Step 4. Analyze the identified open data to help answer your research question.
Step 5. Interpreting your findings with data visualizations.
Step 6. Create a digital poster for your Datathon project, covering the problem statement, data source, methodology, findings, and implications.
Step 7. Submit the final presentation form and deposit your final digital poster & dataset into the TXST Dataverse Repository.
Step 8. Deliver a 5-minute presentation of your digital poster.