2025 COI Great Grads Spring

B.S. Information Science, Concentration in Data Science

Christian Davis, a soon-to-be graduate of the University of North Texas, has always been driven by a desire to understand the world through data. Earning a Bachelor of Science in Information Science with a concentration in Data Science, Christian has consistently demonstrated excellence, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to his goals.

“I chose this program because I wanted to use data and technology to solve everyday challenges,” Christian said. “Data is everywhere; it influences the decisions we make in everyday life. I wanted to become more aware of how I can make those connections and uncover insights people don’t usually see.”

Christian’s academic journey at UNT has been marked by an impressive track record, earning a spot on the President’s List every semester. Yet, his path to success has not been without obstacles. A non-traditional transfer student originally from Louisiana, Christian initially struggled in college, facing challenges that hindered his academic performance. However, upon returning to UNT, he made a commitment to approach his education with renewed focus and determination.

“Something just clicked,” he said. “I came back focused and committed to giving it everything I had. Coming back to school was one of the best decisions I’ve made—it proved that the bet I made on myself was worth it.”

His journey was further shaped by personal hardship. The tragic loss of his brother—who was murdered—tested his resilience. Balancing grief with his academic pursuits was no easy feat, yet Christian remained steadfast in his commitment to excellence, using his brother as motivation. “He didn’t think making the President’s List was possible, so I took pride in proving it could be done,” he shared. “The promise I made to myself became a promise to him—that I’d honor his memory by striving for excellence.”

Christian also faced physical setbacks, undergoing two ACL reconstruction surgeries while managing the demands of college. Despite these challenges, he pushed through, leaning on his discipline and perseverance to stay on track. “There were moments when it felt like too much, but I stayed committed,” he said. “I took things one step at a time and kept going.”

Looking ahead, Christian is eager to apply the skills and knowledge he has gained at UNT to make a meaningful impact in his field. “I want to help people. That’s what drives me,” he said. “Whether it’s helping people make better decisions, uncovering things they might not see, or creating solutions that make a real difference, I want my work to have purpose.”

Beyond academics, Christian brings a unique blend of interests and talents that set him apart. A self-proclaimed lover of both technology and sports, he enjoys coding, anime, and breaking down algorithms just as much as he enjoys fitness and basketball. He’s also a skilled Cajun cook, an R&B singer, and an avid traveler, experiences that have broadened his perspective and strengthened his ability to connect with others.

As Christian prepares to graduate, he leaves UNT not only with academic achievements but also with a story of perseverance, growth, and a determination to make a difference. His journey is a testament to the power of resilience, and his future in data science is sure to be as dynamic as the insights he uncovers.

B.A.S. Learning Technologies

Tom Gomez was the go-to tech helper in his San Antonio neighborhood growing up.

“I was always curious about how things worked,” he says. “My mom would send me to help our neighbors set up their computers or tutor their kids with online homework.”

That early interest sparked something deeper within Tom — a desire to make technology less intimidating and more accessible for everyone. Even with such passion, he decided attending college was not an immediate next step for him after high school, and he dove into full-time work to save for his education when he graduated in 2009.

Tom says that decision led to depression and anxiety, and when it drove a wedge between him and his biological family, encouragement from his chosen family of friends helped him realize that taking a break wasn’t a failure.

After Tom worked several years as an Amazon fulfillment associate, in 2017, a coworker introduced him to the Amazon Career Choice Program, which offered tuition assistance. Later that year, he began an internship at San Antonio’s Palo Alto College, focusing on IT and computer support which ignited his career in the technology industry.

He ultimately earned his associate’s degree in Spring 2022 from Palo Alto College, pondered his next steps and became intrigued by what UNT could offer him.

While wrapping up his time at Amazon, he found another internship opportunity at UNT as an IT support specialist, giving him the experience needed to step further into the industry. “I took a pay cut by leaving my full-time job for an internship, but I reminded myself that taking a step back was going to push me forward, just like my chosen family told me,” Tom says.

“I had a friend at UNT who told me about the learning technologies online program,” Tom says. The program proved ideal as he started his new journey at UNT simultaneously with an impending global pandemic.

From day one, Tom felt a shift. UNT faculty and staff welcomed him and helped him plan a clear path forward. “I didn’t just find a program here,” he says. “I connected with people who truly cared about my success.”

He credits much of his success to his learning technologies mentor, Lisa Hollinger, who encouraged him to get involved and make connections, even as an online student. Her encouragement was a game changer for him. “She pushed me to network, apply for internships and take on leadership roles,” he says. This encouragement inspired Tom to begin mentoring and coaching other students.

During his time at UNT, Tom made the Dean’s List and participated in the Learning Technologies Ambassador Program to continue mentoring others. One of his proudest moments was helping a classmate through their project management course by assisting them with speaking confidently about learning technologies.

“They passed the course and landed a job in the project management industry, and I felt like I got to be part of that win,” he recalls.

Tom also found other ways to contribute — from volunteering with student organizations like Queer Council, providing photography services to assist with LBGTQ+ voter awareness, to assisting fellow online students with their coursework.

“Involvement as an online student is possible,” he says, “and it’s powerful.”

In the Fall of 2024, he was finally ready to move beyond his internship, took a leap of faith and moved to the “Windy City.” He had long dreamed of living in Chicago and wanted to push himself outside his comfort zone.

“It wasn’t easy,” he says. “I faced housing issues and had to adjust quickly, but the support I had from friends, my chosen family and professors never faded.”

Tom now works remotely as an education support specialist at Handshake, focusing on providing support to help customers effectively use the platform. His work involves designing courses, developing content and identifying areas for improvement in the user experience. It’s a role with the perfect blend of everything he loves: technology, education and service.

For Tom, graduating from UNT isn’t just about earning his bachelor’s degree — it’s about everything that came with it: the personal growth, mentorship, community and learning to believe in himself.

“UNT gave me more than an education. It gave me people who saw something in me before I did,” he says. “You don’t have it all figured out? Just keep going.”

Reposted from UNT Great Grads https://www.unt.edu/commencement/great-grads/spring-2025.html 

M.S. Data Science

Not only is Dheeraj Marthand Machiraju the first in his family to attend college, he’s also the first among them to travel halfway around the world and study abroad.

It was his “hunger for more,” he says, that prompted him in 2023 to leave his hometown of Hyderabad, in Southern India, and attend UNT, where he graduates this spring with a master’s in data science after maintaining a 4.0 GPA over the past four semesters.

Along the way, he also helped UNT’s Division of Student Affairs collect, organize and validate data and run advanced statistical analyses to uncover insights designed to help its team strategize for future programming.

“I’m a very intellectually curious person. I’m curious about a lot of things — how they work, why they work,” says Dheeraj, who earned a bachelor’s in computer science and was working as a software engineer in India when he decided to further his education.

He was impressed with all that UNT’s data science program had to offer — especially in the field of natural language processing, a type of artificial intelligence in which machine learning enables computers to comprehend and communicate with human language. 

“You can literally ask a machine something in plain old language and it understands as if there’s a human present,” he explains. “It’s just this mystery that fascinates me. It’s honestly like a sci-fi movie coming to life.”

When he arrived at UNT, Dheeraj needed a campus job to support himself. In India, he’d had a “side hustle” working as an instructor teaching CrossFit-style classes. Passionate about fitness, he was hired as an instructor and weight room supervisor at the Pohl Recreation Center.

Dheeraj introduced a new class called Functional Flow — a ground-based workout that sees participants stretch, crawl and otherwise move to improve mobility, coordination and strength. It quickly became a popular addition to the rec center’s class schedule.

“Nobody had ever done it before, and they loved it,” says Dheeraj, who taught Functional Flow for a semester and was named the center’s Best Group Fitness Instructor in Spring 2024.

He noticed the rec center collected a considerable amount of data about those using the space through membership applications and card swipes. Dheeraj thought the information could be helpful to staff in scheduling classes, programs and events.

At the Pohl Rec Center, he approached Wendy Comfort, associate director of fitness and memberships, and his mentor, Assistant Director of Fitness Alexis McDonald, about using his data science background to analyze the information. His proposal then caught the attention of the Division of Student Affairs, which requested to learn more about it.In Spring 2024, Dheeraj was hired by Sheila Bustillos, director of assessment for Student Affairs, to the Student Affairs Assessment team, which examines various data — such as student retention rates and demographics. As a data scientist, he assists the division in cultivating student development and helps departments plan, collect and measure the outcomes of their programs.

Being hired onto the Assessment team was “a huge turning point in my life,” says Dheeraj, who is looking forward to a career in data science. “I never thought I would even do something close to this. This is something I dreamed of.”

For a recent project, Dheeraj and the team pulled together five years’ of student data to learn whether participation in student organizations, on-campus employment and other similar programs impact alumni’s post-graduation employment status and pay rates.

Another project he worked on incorporated natural language processing to analyze student assessments of a career-readiness class taught in the Ryan College of Business.

“I used the NLP techniques that I was aware of to do some sentiment analysis on the feedback and tell them, 'These aspects of the class are something students very much like and these are aspects students feel could be better,'” Dheeraj explains.

Much of the qualitative research Dheeraj and the Assessment team conduct relies heavily on survey responses. Rather than manually reviewing those responses, with NLP, the process is automated — reducing the time spent on analysis from days to hours.

“That was fascinating because I never even had the idea of using my natural language processing skills for surveys,” he says. “I just wanted to build projects that could help in day-to-day life.”

In his free time, Dheeraj has participated in several “hackathons.” During the intense contests — which typically are sponsored by universities, large companies and other organizations — competing teams have as little as 24 hours work on solutions to a real-world problems, build complex computer programs or solve software issues.

At HackUTD 2024 — one of the nation’s largest hackathons — Dheeraj took home the Outstanding Skilled Individual award. At last fall’s HackUNT 2024, held at Discovery Park, his team won third place in a challenge sponsored by Fidelity Investments, in which they were tasked with developing a retirement budgeting tool for teachers.  

“It was a long night. You cannot afford to sleep,” he says. “We had to take a lot of hard turns. We had to scrap everything and build it again halfway through. It was fun.”

Reposted from UNT Great Grads https://www.unt.edu/commencement/great-grads/spring-2025.html