Data Science and Informatics

What Data Science and Informatics does

Data Science and Informatics (DSI) is a student organization founded in 2015 at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, dedicated to promoting data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence education among students of all majors and grade levels. It operates as a non-commercial community platform, delivering value through free workshops, hackathons, networking events, research opportunities, and an annual symposium. Membership is open to all UF students at no cost, with a Discord community of 1,820 members and an Instagram following of 2,095 functioning as primary engagement channels. The organization is officially sponsored by UF's Artificial Intelligence and Research Informatics Institute (AIIRI) and supported by UFIT, the UF Statistics Department, Smathers Libraries, CISE, and the UF AI2 Center.

DSI's core offerings include its Discord community, hands-on workshops (notably an NVIDIA Deep Learning certification program that has credentialed 400 students), the annual DSI Symposium (2026 edition scheduled for March 28, 2026 at Reitz Union with speakers from Google Cloud, Circle, OneSixOne Ventures, and NLP Logix), and a newsletter. The organization's technology backbone is the University of Florida's HiPerGator supercomputing infrastructure, accessed through a UFIT partnership, which enables student projects spanning reimplementation of Google's Titans neural architecture, early fire detection systems, quantum-level simulations for space materials, and FPGA-implemented differentiable logic gate neural networks. Member outcomes include a dense hackathon win record (Best Overall at DataFest 2024, 1st Place Google Cloud Prize at ShellHacks 2025, Best AI Hack at SwampHacks 2025, 2nd Place Overall at OSC MiniHack 2025, 1st Place nationally at Sentient's Hackathon 2025), alumni placements at Microsoft, NVIDIA, JPMorgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, Deloitte, Amazon, Meta, and others, and 2025 institutional recognition via the Career Influencer Award (UF Career Connections Center) and Student Organization of the Year (Gator Student Organizations).

DSI generates no commercial revenue and operates without equity funding, traditional corporate ownership, or a paid pricing model. The organization has no headcount disclosed, no funding rounds, no subsidiaries, no M&A activity, and no patents. Symposium 2026 is supported by a multi-tier sponsor roster including NVIDIA (flagship), Mark III, NLP Logix, Study Edge, and Vyspar. Its economic logic is educational mission delivery and pipeline development for partner employers, with all resources flowing through institutional sponsorship, infrastructure access (HiPerGator), and event underwriting rather than commercial monetization.

Name

Data Science and Informatics

Legal name

Data Science and Informatics (DSI)

Website

https://ufdsi.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Data Science and Informatics (DSI) is a University of Florida student organization founded in 2015 that delivers free AI and data science workshops, hackathons, and an annual symposium to UF students via a 1,820-member Discord community and HiPerGator supercomputing access.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Student Organization Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Computer Training (61142)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Competitive Programming & Algorithms (DSA, Olympiad-Style) (EDAMACAI)

Keywords

• Data science education
• AI community programs
• Machine learning workshops
• Student research opportunities
• University technology events

Headquarters

HQ city

Gainesville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. No commercial revenue: DSI is a student organization sponsored by UF's AIIRI and supported by UFIT, Statistics Department, Smathers Libraries, CISE, and UF AI2 Center. No commercial revenue model exists as the organization focuses on education and community building.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Data Science and Informatics (DSI) is a University of Florida student organization that delivers data science, machine learning, and AI education through workshops, hackathons, an annual symposium, and an online community. Its core offerings include a Discord-based community platform, hands-on workshops (including NVIDIA Deep Learning certification programs), the annual DSI Symposium featuring industry speakers, and a member newsletter. All offerings are free to UF students and supported through institutional and corporate sponsorship.

Product overview

Data Science and Informatics (DSI) is a student organization offering a community-driven platform for data science education and collaboration. The core offerings consist of a Discord-based community (DSI Community) with 1,820 members, educational workshops (including an NVIDIA Deep Learning Workshop), the annual DSI Symposium event, and a newsletter for updates. These offerings work together to provide workshops, networking events, research opportunities, and a supportive community for students interested in data science, machine learning, and AI.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DSI Community (Discord) A Discord-based online community platform with 1,820 members providing networking, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing for University of Florida students interested in data science, machine learning, and AI.
• Workshops and Educational Programs Hands-on workshops and educational sessions covering data science, machine learning, and AI topics, including a partnership with NVIDIA for Deep Learning certification. 400 students have earned official NVIDIA Deep Learning Certificates through DSI/UFIT workshops.
• DSI Symposium An annual symposium featuring talks, panels, and networking opportunities with industry leaders and researchers in AI and data science. The 2026 edition includes keynote speakers such as Carlos Bastos Neto (Head of Google Cloud Public Sector for Latin America), Kurt Zhao (Senior Staff Data Analyst, Circle), Pablo Casilimas (Managing Partner, OneSixOne Ventures), and Jack Bisher (AI Analyst, NLP Logix), plus PhD speakers from the University of Florida.
• DSI Newsletter A communications platform keeping members updated on achievements, events, and news from the DSI community, featuring stories on competitions, workshops, and member accomplishments.

Quantifiable outcome

• DSI members have won multiple hackathon awards including Best Overall at DataFest 2024, 1st Place at ShellHacks 2025 (Google Cloud prize), Best AI Hack at SwampHacks, and 2nd Place Overall at OSC MiniHack
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• Artificial Intelligence and Research Informatics Institute (AIIRI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOfficial sponsor of DSI providing resources and strategic support for initiatives. AIIRI is UF's hub advancing campus-wide AI research.
• UF Information Technology (UFIT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupports DSI members with access to HiPerGator supercomputing infrastructure and technical workshops. Partnership enables hands-on AI and data science learning.
• Statistics Department (UF)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerValuable support provided to DSI for statistical expertise and collaboration.
• UF Smathers LibrariesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides valuable support to DSI through library resources and collaboration.
• Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupports DSI initiatives and hosted HiPerGator tours. Dr. Juan Gilbert's CISE department provided financial support for ShellHacks 2024.
• UF AI2 CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides valuable support for AI2-related initiatives and collaboration.
• NVIDIAflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerSymposium 2026 sponsor and leader in GPU-driven AI. DSI and UFIT hosted Nvidia Deep Learning Workshop at Nvidia's Auditorium in Malachowsky Hall where 400 students earned official Nvidia Deep Learning Certificates.
• Mark IIIminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSymposium 2026 sponsor - Full-stack IT and AI solutions provider.
• NLP LogixminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSymposium 2026 sponsor - AI consulting firm delivering automation. AI Analyst Jack Bisher is a speaker at the symposium.
• Study EdgeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSymposium 2026 sponsor - Academic tutoring and study resources.
• VysparminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSymposium 2026 sponsor - Education prescription for medical professionals.
• UF Career Connections CenterminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSymposium 2026 collaborator - UF's career services hub for students and alumni. Awarded DSI the Career Influencer Award in 2025.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Insight Data Science Fellows: Insight runs training-to-placement programs for data science and AI talent — directly comparable to DSI's training-plus-employer-pipeline model that funnels members into firms like Microsoft, NVIDIA, and JPMorgan.
• AI4ALL: AI4ALL is a nonprofit that runs university-based AI education programs for students from underrepresented backgrounds. Like DSI, it builds a student community around AI learning, workshops, and industry exposure.
• Google Developer Student Clubs: University-affiliated Google developer clubs run workshops, study jams, and tech events for students — the same audience and community-driven motion as DSI, with a similar institutional sponsorship structure.
• Kaggle: Kaggle is a global data science and ML community/platform offering competitions, datasets, and learning resources. It overlaps directly with DSI's data science education, competitions (hackathons), and learning community focus.
• Major League Hacking (MLH): MLH runs the dominant student hackathon league in North America. DSI participates heavily in MLH-style events (ShellHacks, SwampHacks, DataFest) and serves a similar audience of student developers with hackathon-driven community building.

Broad incumbents

• DataCamp: DataCamp is an established data science/AI education platform. It targets the same curriculum domain (Python, ML, data science) as DSI's workshops but at scale and via paid online courses.
• Coursera: Coursera offers online university-level courses and certificates in data science and AI, including student-access programs. It overlaps with DSI's education mission at much broader scale, but is not community- or event-driven.

Others

• Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Student Chapters: ACM student chapters are university-affiliated computing communities offering learning, networking, and events. They share DSI's institutional sponsorship model and member base, but focus on computing broadly rather than data science/AI specifically.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/ufdsi
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dsiufl

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Data Science and Informatics