Professional headshot of Dawson Smith

Dawson Smith

Business Analytics Student  |  Data-Driven Problem Solver  |  Aspiring Data Analyst

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About Me

I'm a Business Analytics & Information Systems student at the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business, graduating May 2026. My focus is on translating data into clear, actionable decisions — through analysis, modeling, and direct communication of results to stakeholders at every level.

I gained hands-on industry experience as a Data Scientist Intern at MidAmerican Energy, where I built financial and mapping dashboards that leadership continues to use weekly, migrated over 600 legacy queries to Oracle SQL, and presented recommendations directly to the CEO and CFO.

Outside of work, I serve as a Camp Counselor with Camp Kesem — co-leading a fundraising event that raised over $10,000 to send children to camp free of charge.

Work Experience

Data Scientist Intern — Business Transformation

MidAmerican Energy  ·  Urbandale, IA
May 2025 – Aug 2025
  • Developed interactive financial and mapping dashboards that enabled leadership to make faster, data-driven decisions; tools continue to be used weekly by a team of over 10 people.
  • Migrated over 600 legacy Microsoft Access queries to Oracle SQL, improving data reliability, scalability, and processing efficiency for daily reporting.
  • Delivered a presentation with strategic recommendations to the CEO, CFO, and executive leadership team, directly influencing business initiatives.
Power BI Oracle SQL Databricks Data Visualization

Skills

Tools

  • Python
  • SQL
  • Excel
  • Azure
  • Power BI
  • Databricks

Techniques

  • Regression Analysis
  • Forecasting
  • Machine Learning
  • Data Wrangling
  • Visualization

Projects

Databricks SQL Power BI

Casey's Promotion Effectiveness Analysis

Conducted a promotion effectiveness analysis to evaluate the impact of a high-volume seasonal campaign on sales, guest engagement, and retention. Analyzed post-promotion customer behavior to determine shifts in loyalty and purchasing patterns, then presented findings through interactive dashboards and data storytelling.

Python Machine Learning

College Tuition Cost Machine Learning Project

Applied linear regression and decision trees on a wrangled dataset to determine whether specific factors influence undergraduate tuition. Sourced data through web scraping, then merged and transformed it in Python before running the analysis.

Python Optimization

Flight Optimization & Simulation

Designed an optimization model for flights from Chicago to five major U.S. cities to identify the cheapest and quickest routes for consumers while managing multiple real-world constraints.

SQL Oracle

NFL Combine SQL Project

Cleaned and transformed raw combine data into 3NF, imported it into SQL, and answered five analytical questions using subqueries, CASE statements, and join queries. Built an Oracle Web Application to present the results.

Contact

I'm actively looking for data analyst and analytics roles. If you'd like to connect, reach out through any of the links below.