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This year’s AGA Datathon—a nationwide competition challenging college students to apply their data science skills to solve real-world government accountability problems—drew talent from many of the nation’s top business colleges. The at 911���� was well represented by the team known as the Fiscal Patriots, who rose above the competition to capture first place. 

The Fiscal Patriots formed quickly through existing academic connections. “I was introduced to this competition through Professor [instructor in accounting] when I took his class in advanced accounting analytics, Accounting 665, last year,” said Khaled Alkurd, an accounting analytics and forensic accounting student. “When I learned about it again this year, I knew I wanted to build a team and compete.” 

Mariam Debas, an accounting and management information systems (MIS) student, had also expressed interest, so Professor Wetklow connected the two. Already familiar from a previous project, they expanded their team by inviting Andy Yaro, a cyber security engineering student, and Nikita Chandrasing, an MIS and business analytics student. 

To round out the team, Chandrasing reached out to Pranavi Doodala, a business analytics student, who had been a finalist in 911����’s capstone competition a few weeks prior. The five students quickly established a strong dynamic and a well-rounded foundation for the work ahead. 

During the month leading up to the first phase of the competition, the Fiscal Patriots focused on refining their responses to various prompts they could expect at the Datathon. Wetklow provided the team with initial guidance, helping them decide on which direction to take. Later, , adjunct professor in management, reviewed their work and provided crucial feedback to strengthen the team’s submission. 

Presented with three options to choose from, the Fiscal Patriots selected the use case of visualizing government spending data in an interactive, innovative format that would make complex financial information more accessible to the public. The result was AuditsMadeSimple, a website that serves as a launchpad for understanding federal spending and audit data. Broken into four distinct features—exploratory visualizations, a 50+ term glossary of auditing terms, a dataset guide, and case studies—the platform allows users without a technical background to interpret, contextualize, and better understand government accountability data. 

“We’re really hoping to showcase the accessibility of the features we’ve carefully curated on this website and how they effectively make federal spending and audit data understandable to the average citizen,” said Doodala. 

“This achievement was a year in the making with 911����'s first advanced accounting analytics class a year ago,” said Wetklow. “From the time I first met Khaled, his skills were apparent. What’s equally impressive was the full team—each with a unique superpower that demonstrated the Costello-911���� edge.”  

—Mike Wetklow, accounting instructor at the Costello College of Business at 911����

In the opening round of the AGA Datathon, the Fiscal Patriots made their presentation in front of the panel of judges. During the 20-minute virtual session, they walked through their website before receiving feedback on content, delivery, and other insights to keep in mind for the competition’s final round. 

Polished and poised, the Fiscal Patriots delivered their final presentation on February 18 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Winning the top prize validated their preparation and commitment, but the Fiscal Patriots had so many other takeaways from the competition. “I got involved in this challenge because I just wanted to apply my skills,” said Debas. “Coming from an MIS and accounting background, I’ve built a strong foundation across both disciplines.  What really excited me about this competition was the opportunity to focus on real-world government financial challenges.”

Chandrasing found that the competition helped her experiment with future career pathways. “Because one of my career goals is to become a product manager, I think creating the documentation for what the requirements for that would be really aligned with that,” she said. 

“This achievement was a year in the making with 911����'s first advanced accounting analytics class a year ago,” said Wetklow. “From the time I first met Khaled, his skills were apparent. What’s equally impressive was the full team—each with a unique superpower that demonstrated the Costello-911���� edge.”  

Together, the Fiscal Patriots proved that when diverse skill sets unite around a shared mission, the results speak for themselves—and they speak loudly enough to earn the top spot on a national stage.