Global analytic software company FICO announced its FICO® Educational Analytics Challenge is set to partner with Fayetteville State University. Led by Dr. Mingxian Jin, professor in computer science, 12 FSU seniors will participate in the challenge.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to obtain a first-hand learning experience in an industrial working environment,” said Jin in a press release.

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. 

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. 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, in a press release. “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.

Joining FSU as first-time participants, FICO’s expansion includes J.F Drake State Community and Technical College and North Carolina Central University, and the company announced it is 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.

For more information about how HBCUs can get involved in the FICO Educational Analytics Challenge, contact Seyi Mclelland at SeyiMclelland@fico.com.