Strome Team Takes Top Prize for Data-Driven Wellness Proposal

Strome students Caleb Clayborne (left) and Grant Rogers pose with the championship belt presented to winners of the 2023 Datathon. Photo courtesy of the City of Norfolk.

Members of the Strome College of Business' Data Analytics Club are working to create positive change in the community - one dataset at a time.

A team from the Strome Business Analytics Club comprised of Grant Rogers, Bobby Piehl and Caleb Clayborne won first place in the 2023 Hampton Roads Datathon, an event encouraging problem solving through the use of publicly available data.

The topic for this year's datathon was "Community Wellness: analyzing and promoting mental, financial, social, spiritual, occupational, physical, intellectual, and environmental wellness in Hampton Roads."

The Strome team's winning proposal is to promote wellness through mapped walks around the community. Using Norfolk city data, the team mapped different resources, such as parks and public art, alongside other useful information like accessible sidewalks, streetlights, and police incident reports. The result is a map that can be configured with richer data, that ultimately provides the community with access to safe and equitable walking opportunities. Datathon judges, which included government and academic stakeholders, as well as the chief data officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia, commended the Strome team's proposal for its accessibility, low cost and its potential to foster a sense of community.

"Grant, Bobby and Caleb's proposal demonstrated their keen abilities to source, manipulate analyze and apply data," said Amro El-Adle, co-advisor for the Analytics Club and Assistant Professor of Business Analytics at the Strome College of Business. "This competition shows how students at Strome can partner with the community to both improve their professional skills and improve society."

Members of the Strome Business Analytics Club present their proposal to judges during the 2023 Datathon. Photo courtesy of the City of Norfolk.

In a meeting with the Norfolk Data Leadership Committee, the team presented their proposal to departmental leaders who assist the city data team in making decisions about data creation, curation and transparency citywide.

The team plans to enhance their mapping application and to partner with local businesses and entrepreneurs to further enrich the maps.

For Clayborne, the Datathon was a learning opportunity, and he encouraged others to pursue similar experiences.

"Take chances on opportunities, no matter at what cost," Clayborne said. "In turn, you will gain knowledge and experience for the future."

To inquire about working with the team, please email aeladle@odu.edu.

You can read more about the 2023 Hampton Roads Datathon, hosted by CivicLab Norfolk, here.