2025 ASU Data Conference
ASU is hosting its 9th annual Data Conference, where members of the data community will gather for two days of networking, knowledge-sharing and collaboration. Come hear about the tools that your peers use to extract and query data, create visualizations and build the tools that enable ASU leaders to make data-informed decisions every day.
In addition to a full slate of presentation sessions from your colleagues, this year’s conference will feature a “Tool Bar” where you can stop by and chat with data experts!
That’s not all – back by popular demand is our Sliced! live data visualization competition. Come cheer on your fellow data experts as they create data viz magic and compete to see who will be crowned Sliced! Champion!
Step Up to the Data Tool Bar at the Data Conference!
In addition to an exciting lineup of presentation sessions from your peers, we’re bringing back the our Data Tool Bar—your in-person hub for real-time insights, expert advice, and hands-on demos. Throughout the entire conference, you can drop by and chat with data pros from external vendors to, of course, Enterprise Technology at ASU.
Whether you're curious about the latest data solutions, want to see cutting-edge tools in action, or have burning questions about how to level up your data game, the Data Tool Bar has it all! Our industry specialists are here to guide you, answer your questions, and show you the tech that’s shaping the future of data.
Stop by, grab a spot, and dive into the data-driven discussions! The Data Tool Bar is open throughout the conference—don’t miss your chance to connect with the experts.
Agenda
Each session is represented by a distinct colored line, with the length of the line indicating the duration of the session. The color serves as a quick visual reference, allowing easy differentiation between individual sessions.
Single Session Sponsored Session
November 3, 2025
8:30 a.m. Doors Open
A light continental breakfast will be available at this time in the Turquoise Room.
9:00 a.m. Welcome & Keynote
Storytelling with data: what you show & what you say
To drive change with data, you must present it effectively. In this inspiring session, best-selling author Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic demonstrates how to overcome common graph and slide issues, plus shares secrets she used to transform herself from a shaky-voiced introvert into an adept presenter. Whether a formal presentation or a daily meeting setting, you’ll learn to engage, inform, and influence through what you show and what you say. You’ll leave the session ready to make your next graph or slide your best one yet and present it powerfully!
10:10 a.m. Breakout Session
Room: Alumni
Presented by: Jennifer Hornsby
What data does Registrar Technology Services (Enrollment and Records) provide, how to use Enrollment and Records reports, how to get help.
Great for: Data Consumer and Data Architect
Room: Ventana A
Presented by: Steve Yena
Join us for an overview of recent enhancements to ASU’s Accelerated Master’s program processes. This session will highlight the new automatic application creation process—eliminating the need for students to manually submit a graduate application—and introduce key updates to the Accelerated Master’s tracking tool. We’ll also discuss the new Accelerated Master’s Award initiative designed to support Arizona students pursuing graduate education.
Great for: Data Consumer, Data Analyst, and Data Developer
Room: Turquoise
Presented by: Alexis Pumel & Josh Johnson
With rapid development in the areas of automation and AI, metadata ("what your data is") and the semantic layer ("what your data means") are becoming increasingly crucial. Let's talk about how they apply to our work here at ASU, how they can help you, and you can help others by contributing content.
Great for: Data Developer and Data Architect
Room: Ventana B
Presented by: Michael Madril, Saida Murrieta, Vincent Lowe & Celia Vasfaret
Join us for an in-depth look at the new Microsoft Data Platform: Fabric. We'll walk through practical methods for preparing, loading, and sharing data, from source systems all the way to business intelligence dashboards using examples from our ASUEP Fabric environment. Learn how to streamline workflows using shortcuts and incremental data loads, and gain insights from our real-world experiences, including the wins, challenges, and lessons learned throughout our data journey.
Great for: Data Analyst, Data Developer, and Data Architect
Room: Ventana C
Presented by: Coleman Wagoner, Principal Solutions Engineer, Tableau
Tableau's approach to innovation has always been centered around helping people do more with data, faster. Enhancements in AI certainly has the potential to lower the barriers to analytics and positively impact the analyst experience. Join our session to learn about the latest in Tableau's vision for AI and see a demo of Tableau Agent, a conversational AI assistant designed to help build analytics proficiency, especially for newer Tableau users.
Great for: Data Analyst, and Data Developer
11:10 a.m. Breakout Sessions
Room: Ventana A
Presented by: Josh Johnson
An annual update of student data enrichment efforts, with a focus on comparing the enriched objects to traditional tables.
Great for: Data Analyst and Data Developer
Room: Turquoise
Presented by: Matthew Clements & Alexis Pumel
This will be an attempt to give some background information on the ASU data ecosystem, an introduction to the forms we use to request access to the various systems, and a quick rundown on taking a project from an idea, to a fully realized dashboard at ASU. We're not going to focus on the contents of the specific systems, but what you need to do to gain access to them; and then give a quick rundown on using a few of those systems to publish something to the analytics site.
Great for: Data Developer and Data Architect
Room: Ventana C
Presented by: Alecia Radatz, Safali Patel & Shelly Potts
As public scrutiny around the value of higher education and return on investment increases, institutions are under growing pressure to demonstrate student outcomes. This session shares how ASU uses multiple sources of post-graduation data, including graduate surveys, state workforce and wage data, and the U.S. Census Bureau’s Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO), to examine earnings and employment after graduation. We will explore the strengths and limitations of each source, approaches for addressing inconsistencies and results, and ways to share findings with stakeholders in a clear and credible way. This session is intended for institutional researchers, career services professionals, and campus leaders who use data to support decision-making and accountability.
Great for: Data Consumer , Data Analyst , Data Developer , and Data Architect
Room: Ventana B
Presented by: Michael Sears
Data alone doesn’t drive change—stories do. In this session, Action Lab shares how it transforms complex student data into compelling, decision-ready narratives that resonate with stakeholders across academics, operations, and partnerships. Through real-world use cases—including Course Health, 7.5-week vs. 15-week session comparisons, Application Ramps by Term, and partner-facing dashboards for corporate and university collaboration—the team will demonstrate how well-designed visual narratives reveal actionable insights, build trust, and accelerate strategic decision-making. Attendees will walk away with techniques for structuring impactful dashboards, embedding context into analytics, and using storytelling to turn raw data into a driver of institutional change.
Great for: Data Consumer and Data Analyst
Room: Alumni
Presented by: Adwait More & Vanshaj Gupta
Feeling overwhelmed by repetitive data tasks on Google Sheets? Discover how Google Apps Script can instantly fetch data from APIs like Canvas, automating essential academic reports such as course progress, student analytics, and grade summaries.
Join us for this beginner-friendly workshop - no coding experience required! Together, we'll interactively build your first automation live, and impress your colleagues with powerful, automated solutions.
Great for: Data Analyst and Data Developer
12:00 Lunch
1:10 p.m. Breakout Sessions
Room: Turquoise
Presented by: Jennifer Hornsby
This presentation will cover the most commonly requested student records data and explore concepts such as New/Returning/Continuing, major, campus, primary record flags, enrollment status, academic level, and GPA. Note that this is about the Student Profile tables in data warehouse, PeopleSoft and ODS, it is not about the Student Profile information displayed in Salesforce.
Great for: Data Consumer , Data Analyst , Data Developer , and Data Architect
Room: Ventana A
Presented by: Matthew Clements, Anupama Prabu & David Archibeque
At ASU, few things scare data teams like a BQY help request; but fear not! A new hero has arrived to help you ditch that 15-year-old Hyperion query: ChatGPT. This session will show you how to understand Hyperion Studio’s inner workings, export the key pieces, and use AI to convert that cryptic mess into a readable, modern SQL query “easily” (depending on your definition of easily).
Great for: Data Analyst , Data Developer , and Data Architect
Room: Ventana B
Presented by: Joe Zakaras
Faced with 1,000+ legacy dashboards and workflows—and spending 80% of staff time just keeping them running—Action Lab at EdPlus launched a bold transformation: the Golden Thread initiative. This session shares how the team modernized its data architecture around the student journey using the Medallion framework, dbt, and Apache Airflow.
Great for: Data Analyst and Data Developer
Room: Ventana C
Presented by: Hamid Ghasemi
Discover why XGBoost is the gold standard for machine learning on structured/tabular data. From its gradient boosting roots to advanced optimization tricks like sparsity awareness and regularization, this talk will equip you with a deep understanding of how XGBoost consistently delivers top-tier performance in real-world applications and competitions alike.
Great for: Data Analyst , Data Developer , and Data Architect
Room: Alumni
Presented by: Aditya Challa
Discover how the next generation of Amazon SageMaker unifies AI/ML workflows while implementing robust data governance for public sector and higher education needs. Learn to build secure data lakehouses that enable cross-agency collaboration, ensure compliance, and accelerate public sector innovation—all within a unified analytics environment designed for your requirements.
Great for: Data Analyst , Data Developer
2:10 p.m. Breakout Sessions
Room: Turquoise
Presented by: Pallavi Sharma
You don’t need to be a data engineer to make smarter decisions with data. This session shows how anyone can use Looker with Google Sheets to build self-serve dashboards. Learn how to connect a spreadsheet, build visuals, and explore data with confidence. We’ll also share tips to create dashboards for personal insights and polished versions to share with others. If you’re curious, you’ve got everything you need to start.
Great for: Data Consumer , Data Analyst , Data Developer , and Data Architect
Room: Alumni
Presented by: Phil Arcuria
Have you heard for "JSON" and "Super Data Types" and are not sure what they mean? This presentation will provide an gentle introduction to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data format and AWS super data types, including why and how they are used.
Great for: Data Analyst and Data Developer
Room: Ventana C
Presented by: Andrew Deng & Qing Song
As Action Lab rearchitected its analytics platform through the Golden Thread initiative, speed and trust became essential for delivering insights at scale. This session explores how Tableau Hyperfiles were integrated as a core publishing layer within the Medallion-based architecture, enabling fast, governed access to certified data in Tableau. Learn how Action Lab builds Hyperfiles utilizing several strategies including: Python scripting, Alteryx Workflows and Airflow DAGs with dbt-core.
Great for: Data Analyst
Room: Ventana B
Presented by: Lilian Gong, Hailey Stevens-Macfarlane, and Ethan Park
The ASU Learning Engineering Institute, Learning@Scale project built an LLM-based pipeline to de-identify over 250,000 Canvas discussion posts, enabling secure data sharing for research on student engagement, discourse analysis, and applications in NLP. Trained on 4,300 examples, the fine-tuned GPT-4o model achieved 91.8% precision and 91.3% recall. This presentation will cover the model fine-tuning process, PII removal pipeline, and how these efforts support responsible data sharing.
Great for: Data Developer and Data Architect
Room: Ventana A
Presented by: Ishrat Ahmed, Maria Goldshtein & Vipin Verman
We will present two types of analysis conducted on log data from ASU's MyAI Builder. The project uses data from gamified chatbots designed to teach students (n = 52) a STEM topic (photosynthesis). The presentation will illustrate data analyses (Socratic method testing, Knowledge Tracing) that can be conducted with log data, to start a conversation about chatbot log data possibilities to support student success.
Great for: Data Analyst and Data Developer
2:40 p.m. Breakout Sessions
Room: Alumni
Presented by: Rebecca Berkowitz
When tasked with fulfilling a data request, it's important to understand the context behind it and remove as much ambiguity as possible. Even the most straightforward requests can be open to interpretation. The 5Ws (and one H) - Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, can be a good framework to approach this task.
Great for: Data Consumer and Data Developer
Room: Gold
Presented by: Jared Scolaro
Have you ever wished you could check up on your course enrollment numbers for active enrollment terms? Ever wished there was a convenient way to compare this to historic enrollment numbers? Well, now you can with this brand new, universal course fill report!
Great for: Data Consumer and Data Analyst
Room: Ventana A
Presented by: Richard Szpara
"Using Microsoft SQL Server’s built in functionality to add meta data describing columns, extracting and transforming the meta data to surface it in a Tableau report for users.
Will briefly show the equivalent functionality for adding meta data in MySQL and PostgreSQL.
Having an updated data dictionary helps both end users and the internal data team understand the data better.
Great for: Data Developer and Data Architect
Room: Ventana C
Presented by: Andrew Deng
Modern data teams face a common challenge: how to scale quality and insight without recreating the wheel. At Action Lab, that challenge led to a powerful new toolkit grounded in repeatable patterns, reusable templates, and structured metadata—all now enhanced by an AI assistant, ALI (Action Lab Insights). This session shares how Action Lab templatized its dbt and Airflow development using “MadLibs for Pipelines”
Great for: Data Developer and Data Architect
Room: Turquoise
Presented by: Likhith Uppada
The old “analyst vs. engineer vs. scientist” turf wars are ending. Modern tools let data pros jump fences, mix skills, and ship value faster. I’ll unpack how these fluid roles power innovation and growth in an AI fueled world.
Great for: Data Developer
Room: Ventana B
Presented by: Lilian Gong & Maria Goldshtein
This presentation shares findings from Learning Engineering Institute's data-driven study using 2023–2024 freshman cohort data to assess the impact of ASU’s Academic Status Reports (ASRs) on GPA and retention. Structural equation modeling reveals that students' negative ASR experiences are linked to lower GPA and decreased retention. Students with more negative ASRs, reasons, actions, and longer comments were less likely to persist.
Great for: Data Consumer and Data Analyst
3:30 p.m. End of Day 1
November 4, 2025
8:30 a.m. Doors Open
A light continental breakfast will be available at this time in the Turquoise Room.
8:45 a.m. Welcome
9:10 a.m. Breakout Sessions
Room: Ventana A
Presented by: Jennifer Hornsby, Phil Arcuria & Josh Johnson
We want to demonstrate the processes and events that generate and update commonly used student records, including discontinuation, term activation, and completion (graduation)
Great for: Data Analyst , Data Developer , and Data Architect
Room: Turquoise
Presented by: Kaushiki Kansara
In this session, I will be showcasing the AI-powered dashboards developed in our ET Department’s AI team to support Builders and Model Evaluation efforts across ASU. These dashboards deliver actionable insights into model performance, user engagement, and faculty-student outcomes, offering a transparent and accessible way to monitor AI usage across multiple tools and learning contexts.
Great for: Data Consumer , Data Analyst , and Data Developer
Room: Ventana B
Presented by: Jennifer Wilken, Kim Beckert, Todd Peterson, Nishanth Prathap & Anissa Lilly
Explore current metrics and future data-rich opportunities around ASU's newly launched undergraduate Degree Planner application, in beta during Fall 2025. Presentation will include a brief overview of the product roadmap, existing data structures and a robust conversation about the new
Great for: Data Consumer , Data Analyst , Data Developer , and Data Architect
Room: Alumni
Presented by: Heather Harris, Field Chief Data & Analytics Officer ,Alteryx
Move beyond chat-based GenAI LLMs and learn how to incorporate AI into your work in meaningful ways. Organizations are adopting AI at a rapid pace with the expectation that knowledge workers leverage AI as a key part of their roles. Come learn how AI, analytics and automation can transform your day-to-day work and future-proof your career. You will come away equipped to leverage best-in-class strategies to deliver meaningful impact from AI.
Great for: Data Analyst , Data Developer
Room: Gold
Presented by: Samantha Carter
This session is designed for analysts, developers, and data leaders who want to maximize the value of their Tableau environment. We’ll explore how to harness Tableau Server usage metrics to assess dashboard performance, identify stale content, and make informed decisions about consolidation and retirement.
Great for: Data Analyst , Data Developer , and Data Architect
10:10 a.m. Breakout Sessions
Room: Gold
Presented by: Mario Gorla
Financial Aid Data
Great for: Data Consumer and Data Analyst
Room: Alumni
Presented by: Mellisa Soucy & Bailu Li
This presentation introduces a standardized, data-driven framework for evaluating PhD programs to ensure transparent, equitable allocation of University Graduate Fellowship (UGF) funds. Using a multi-metric, three-year rolling average model, it assesses program efficiency, outcomes, and funding use. The session covers methodology, key findings, and how this approach supports strategic, equitable decisions in graduate education.
Great for: Data Consumer and Data Analyst
Room: Ventana A
Presented by: Ben archer
Whether you manage spreadsheets, dashboards, systems, or student records, data privacy is everyone’s responsibility. This interactive session will empower you with real-world tools to keep ASU’s data safe and make you a privacy pro your team can rely on.
What You’ll Learn:
* Why privacy matters
* Privacy regulations
* Privacy in practice
* ASU privacy resources
Great for: Data Consumer , Data Analyst , Data Developer , and Data Architect
Room: Ventana B
Presented by: Rachel Hafer, Derek Thurber, Michelle Welker & Melissa Rudd
This presentation will share how we streamlined academic advisor caseload management in MLFC by importing university data into Airtable to automate time-consuming manual entry and improved workflows with custom-built interfaces that enhanced our academic advisors' ability to use university data efficiently and effectively when working with students.
Great for: Data Developer and Data Architect
Room: Turquoise
Presented by: Mike Sharkey
Not all ChatGPT questions can be answered by your favorite LLM. Sometimes the answer lies in a database, not on the Internet or in a document. Natural Language Querying is a way to take a human/English question, convert it to SQL, run the SQL against a database, and return the answer in human/English. We developed an NLQ chatbot that can answer questions by querying a data source behind the scenes with SQL.
Great for: Data Consumer , Data Analyst , and Data Developer
11:10 a.m. Breakout Sessions
Room: Gold
Presented by: Mario Gorla
A guide to testplans, running testing labs or clinics and full test cycles.
Great for: Data Developer
Room: Ventana B
Presented by: Jen Bevins
This presentation will talk about Watts College's operationalizing the Persistence Outlook measure through just-in-time intervention conducted by student outreach aides. We will talk about how we build/prep lists for use, what training and support is needed for the student workers performing outreach, and how to make the outreach feel as natural as possible, given that it is driven by the PO algorithm.
Great for: Data Consumer and Data Analyst
Room: Ventana A
Presented by: Olli Honkkila, Ben Archer & Margeaux Ciraolo
Wouldn’t it be amazing if all the relevant privacy and data governance information was neatly collected in one place? Great news: ASU’s new Privacy and Data Governance Repository brings together the tools, standards, and guidance you need to manage data with confidence.
Margeaux Ciraolo, Ben Archer, and Olli Honkkila will walk the audience through this exciting new resource, which includes:
Answers to frequently asked questions
Case studies
Links to tools, resources, and key data contacts
Great for: Data Consumer , Data Analyst , Data Developer , and Data Architect
Room: Turquoise
Presented by: Josh Johnson
An annual update on the capabilities and considerations of using Large Language Models (LLM) to generate, improve, and/or maintain SQL.
For instance, this year ASU's Create AI platform is more accessible than ever, and anyone looking to work with enriched student data in the warehouse should definitely take advantage of our customized AI model for developers and analysts.
Great for: Data Analyst and Data Developer
Room: Alumni
Presented by: Amedeo Feroce
In this session, we’ll explore how to design and implement validation processes that ensure ETL pipelines are running as expected. You’ll learn practical strategies for detecting failures, verifying data integrity, and setting up automated checks that increase confidence in your data workflows. Whether you're building from scratch or refining existing systems, this talk will help you put safeguards in place that keep your data reliable and trustworthy.
Great for: Data Architect
12:30 p.m. Lunch & Sliced!
Back by popular demand, the 2024 Data Conference will host another Sliced! competition. Come cheer on your fellow data enthusiasts as they create data viz magic and compete for the coveted Sliced! championship!
2:00 p.m. End of Day 2
Which data persona are you?
Data Consumer
A Data Citizen is a capable user of data as a product. The consumer’s focus is on analyzing the output of various datasets and reports rather than creating data content. Often tasked with answering questions or substantiating facts or assumptions by colleagues or leadership, a Data Consumer does not write code or use a BI Desktop, preferring to consume data in flat files, or pre-built reports that can be filtered and downloaded. Using data may be only a small part of this person’s role.
Look for Data Consumer for sessions that align with this level.
Data Analyst
The Data Analyst is a consumer of existing reports to perform analysis and derive insights. They may modify existing reports or perform basic ad hoc queries based on pre-built logic. A Data Analyst may use a BI Desktop for some functions, like using a visual query tool, or may simply leverage existing assets. While skilled, data wrangling is usually not the analyst’s primary job.
Look for Data Analyst for sessions that align with this level.
Data Developer
The Data Developer is a fearless creator of content across multiple platforms and methodologies. Adept at writing queries, creating tables, and scheduling jobs to refresh them. A developer will readily create reporting and visualizations to serve their department or the broader data community.
Look for Data Developer for sessions that align with this level.
Data Architect
The Data Architect is an academic at the core. While this data magician may have a great understanding of many different tools, is most renowned for skill in data science, statistics, and modeling. Experienced with and capable of using multiple platforms and software, the Data Architect typically uses them to derive inferences and analyses rather than producing data products or apps.
Look for Data Architect for sessions that align with this level.
Parking on campus
The ASU Memorial Union is located at 301 E Orange St. (noted by the star) in Tempe on campus.
We highly encourage using alternative transportation such as carpooling, a golf cart, ride sharing or stretching your legs for a quick walk. With school in session, the parking lots will be very full, making alternate transportation an ideal choice.
Parking validations will not be provided, participants are responsible for paying for their parking.
- We encourage alternative travel such as walking, carpooling or using an ASU golf cart to attend our events.
- Promote bringing your reusable water bottles to reduce single use cup usage.
- Our team only uses evergreen signage and decor which is reused each year.
- Our events work with Zero Waste & Aramark on Think Before You Throw waste awareness.
Request attendees leave lanyards behind to be reused for future events.
