When running a nonprofit, collecting and understanding data is an important piece of a sometimes difficult puzzle.
For some organizations in Chattanooga, that piece is missing. Limited resources often go toward the most crucial components of the nonprofit, leaving a lack of money, time, people or software to analyze the data that informs the work.
Students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga are helping fill this gap.
Through the Driving Action Through Analytics and Analysis (DATAA) internship program, students are working with Chattanooga organizations to organize and manage data to “strengthen programs, measure impact, evaluate outcomes and improve quality of life across the Chattanooga region.”
The internship program launched during the spring 2026 semester through UTC’s Journey Health Foundation Research Center, housed in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business. This year, it became a partnership with the Office for Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor (URaCE).
Shelley Kay, associate director of the Journey Health Foundation Research Center, said the program began after conversations with organizations about their data needs.
Last semester, students built dashboards and helped with data-collection tools, data entry and data organization.
This work, Kay said, is expanding.
“We want it to include more non-technical, non-data or business analytics students,” Kay said. “We had a lot of applications from students from other disciplines.”
This semester, 15 students are participating in DATAA. Organizations include the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga, Chattanooga 2.0, TN Voices, the Chambliss Center for Children, Chattanooga Care Connector, Hamilton County Department of Education and the Nonprofit Resource Center.
Students are expected to spend five to 10 hours a week with their host organizations, first learning about their work and beginning their individual projects.
Caleb Myers, a Nashville native and current graduate student in UTC’s data analytics program, participated in DATAA during its first semester. He was paired with the Chambliss Center for Children.
Caleb Myers
“I was thrown in feet first,” Myers said. “Some of these nonprofits just don’t have the resources to have IT people on site to assist.”
Myers worked with the organization’s CEO to track survey data and create a dashboard using financial data. One project involved creating a spreadsheet that the organization could collect survey data from parents, schools and teachers and track it over time.
“I think I provided a little bit, but I hope it went a long way,” he said.
He is now a graduate assistant with the Journey Health Foundation Research Center, where he is helping this semester’s interns navigate some of the work and challenges he faced. He said the experience taught him that knowing how to work with data is only part of the job.
“The biggest skill that I have found the most important is communication,” Myers said. “A lot of these students may be doing a lot more technical work with their organizations … but they have to describe it to a CEO or a manager who may not have a technical background.”
Dr. Lisa Piazza, executive director of URaCE, said this is what defines research.
“You could be working on a research team, you could be doing field research,” Piazza said. “You could also be working out in the community, serving the community and doing something really important. And it’s all about research.”
URaCE joined the program this year to help with recruitment, onboarding and student training. The office also created a Canvas site where interns can access training and other resources throughout the semester.
Piazza said DATAA gives students another way to develop the skills that come with research while seeing where those skills can take them.
“Problem solving, critical thinking, organizing yourself and your work, learning how to time manage,” she said. “All of those things are kind of rolled into what you always do in research. And those are also really important critical workforce skills.”
Kay said the experience gives students a closer look at the organizations working on issues throughout Chattanooga.
“Getting to roll your sleeves up and really be on the front lines of some of these really hard issues that our community is facing, I think that’s really eye-opening for students who may not have otherwise been exposed to it,” Kay said. “Data can feel incredibly complex, and there are certainly parts of it that are. But one of the most important things I want students to learn is how to make data more accessible and digestible.”
Learn more
Journey Health Foundation Research Center
Office for Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor (URaCE)
