FICO Expands Educational Analytics Challenge Program with Three New Historically Black Colleges and Universities to Educate Aspiring Data Scientists

Students at J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College, North Carolina Central University, and Fayetteville State University, as well as returner Alabama A&M University, join FICO’s Analytics Challenge, focused on combating financial fraud

BOZEMAN, Mont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FICO (NYSE: FICO)

Highlights:

• The FICO^® Educational Analytics Challenge broadens to new partnerships with J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College, North Carolina Central University, and Fayetteville State University. Alabama A&M University to return for year two.
• The 2024-25 Analytics Challenge continues its focus on financial fraud detection where students will develop transaction analytics AI models to detect fraud.
• Undergraduate and graduate students will learn how to use AI responsibly to fight fraud.

Global analytic software company FICO announced its FICO^® Educational Analytics Challenge is set to partner with three new Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the Spring ‘25 semester, bringing the total to seven participating HBCUs in the 2024-2025 academic year. Currently in its second year, the semester-long program is designed to give students real world problems to solve using data and AI and inspire the next generation of data scientists. FICO’s Chief Analytics Officer, Dr. Scott Zoldi and his team of world-class data scientists will provide weekly lectures and mentor the students. Dr. Zoldi will also give in-person lectures at the schools to support the program.

For the Spring ’25 semester, FICO is expanding the program for the first time to students at J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College, North Carolina Central University, and Fayetteville State University, and continuing its partnership with Alabama A&M University. This semester also marks the first time the Analytics Challenge will be introduced to graduate students from North Carolina Central University and Fayetteville State University.

“My graduate students are excited about NCCU’s new AI partnership with FICO,” said Siobahn Day Grady, Ph.D., assistant professor and program director of information sciences at the North Carolina Central University School of Library and Information Sciences. “Our students are eager for hands on experience, working on a real-world AI problem with smart data scientists professionals that will help sharpen their skills for post-graduation career opportunities.”

The Analytics Challenge announces a new challenge each school year, focused on AI and analytics. The Spring ‘25 challenge will continue to focus on teaching students how to fight against payment transaction fraud. Criminals today often commit financial fraud by mimicking legitimate banking behavior to secure billions in customer funds, and banks need to leverage transactional analytics to identify and prevent fraud. The students will have the opportunity to build their own real-time fraud detection model based on transactional behavioral analytics to identify fraud.

“It’s very rewarding that schools are embracing the Analytics Challenge; the partnership with the faculty and student participants has helped grow the program tremendously since its launch,” said Dr. Scott Zoldi, chief analytics officer at FICO. “To continue FICO’s goal of educating and empowering the next generation of data scientists, we are also giving the Analytic Challenge participants the opportunity to participate in summer internships in my organization. We look forward to continuing our work to diversify and expand the industry with the best and brightest.”

The challenge also provides financial support to enhance analytics study for each participating HBCU and offers resources to learn more about internship opportunities for student participants. FICO is a proud participant in the HBCU Partnership Challenge, an initiative of the Bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities Caucus.

To learn more about the Educational Analytics Challenge:

• Dr. Scott Zoldi for Forbes Tech Council — Developing The Next Generation Of Data Scientists
• Dr. Scott Zoldi for FICO Blog — Using AI and Data Science to Fight Bias and Drive Opportunities

For more information about how HBCUs can get involved in the FICO Educational Analytics Challenge, please contact Seyi Mclelland at [e-mail].

About FICO

FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 200 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 80 countries do everything from protecting four billion payment cards from fraud, to improving financial inclusion, to increasing supply chain resiliency. The FICO^® Score, used by 90% of top US lenders, is the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the US and has been made available in over 40 other countries, improving risk management, credit access and transparency.

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