Tharun Komari

Searching for a university that would foster his passion to be a change-maker, Tharun found the Bachelor in Data and Business Analytics and knew that IE University would be a perfect fit. The alignment of the university’s values with his own, the opportunity to learn technical aspects of data science and its power to transform business, and the experience of his first year in Segovia with behavioral science undergraduate students served as proof that he made the right choice.

Tharun is now in his third academic year and still loving his experience. Having learned the fundamentals of human behavior and the effect of technology on society during his first year in Segovia, he is more open-minded to new ideas and perspectives and loves meeting people of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Tharun is confident that he will be able to apply his newly developed critical thinking skills to make better data-driven decisions—both professionally and personally. His wide range of interests has opened up a world of academic and professional opportunities in a variety of industries and sectors.

IE University’s labs have offered Tharun real-world work experience in analyzing markets and creating investment strategies. In his first and second academic years, Tharun participated in the Finance Lab. He worked with Deutsche Bank designing an investment portfolio, and Quadriga Asset Managers developing a machine-learning-based approach to identify the factors that affect currency prices. This relevant experience, combined with his experience as a social media market analyst for The Stork—the official student newspaper of IE University—have allowed Tharun to feel confident when putting his learning into practice.

Tharun believes that his confidence comes from the way the program courses are linked to the current industry. In his Data Visualization course, multinational companies have given students access to their data and allow them to make dashboards and prediction models. IE University encourages participation and real-word experience inside and outside the classroom—currently, Tharun and his classmates are participating in a Johnson & Johnson Innovation challenge. The participants are using cutting-edge AI tools and behavioral science concepts to design a marketing campaign for Johnson & Johnson.

Using the entrepreneurial mindset instilled by IE University, Tharun and his friends designed an AI model to combat cheating on exams during the pandemic. This inspired him to continue using his talent with AI. As a die-hard football fan, he and a friend are currently using Reinforcement Learning to train bots to play the game. For the future, Tharun sees himself leveraging the power of data to bring a competitive edge to football or to Formula 1 racing. As for now, Madrid and IE University are exactly where he feels at home.