Competitions Held at Arizona State University and University of Texas at Austin

Step into an Arizona State University (ASU) classroom on a typical Saturday morning and you might find empty desks and a blank chalk board. This was not the case on March 19, 2016. On this particular Saturday, the first annual ASU Property & Casualty Case Competition was taking place. After working through the case materials for the last couple weeks, each team had the morning to finalize its solutions. Students had the help of six experienced actuaries to answer any last questions. One team was planning the flow of its presentation, another was listening to a volunteer explain the considerations needed for prospective trends, and yet another was documenting its Excel workbook. Presentations would be held after lunch and each team wanted to make sure everything was just right. There were not only bragging rights at stake, but award money for the winning team, thanks to the joint sponsorship of the competition by the ASU School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences and the CAS.

A similar scene took place on a Saturday two weeks later at The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). In the week leading up to this school’s case competition event, participants from five teams met twice, first for a kickoff presentation to receive the case materials and then again a few days later for an opportunity to meet and to ask questions of two volunteer CAS members who provided insights on the case based on their real-world experience. After a whirlwind week of learning some fundamental actuarial concepts, researching the details of the case from resources such as the Highway Loss Data Institute, and preparing a professional presentation, the student teams reconvened on Saturday, April 2 to give their final presentations to a panel of four judges and compete for first and second place in the competition.

Both ASU and UT-Austin used case competition materials created by the CAS University Engagement Committee (UEC) to facilitate planning and running a case competition for university students. The materials center around an auto safety features case and are part of the CAS Case Competition Toolkit, which contains:

(1) A facilitator guide.

(2) An introductory presentation.

(3) A case study.

(4) An Excel workbook.

(5) A grading rubric.

(6) An award certificate.

(7) Promotional material.

The Auto Safety Features Case is the first in a series of property-casualty cases that will be released in the coming year. The next case to be released focuses on workers’ compensation and will be available this fall.

Five teams presented at each school. Afterwards, the students were left to wait anxiously as the judges determined the winners. The deliberations were tough for judges at both schools, given so many well-thought-out, unique approaches by the competing teams.

The winning team at ASU was Game Time, consisting of Alex Sabrowksy, Julia Tang, Yimin Tang and Hieu Tran. They will present their solution at the Casualty Actuaries of Desert States’ meeting in June. The other competing teams will each present a different section of the overall presentation (introduction, research, methodology and marketing).

The winning team at UT-Austin was Risk Pool, made up of Tianxi Ji (TJ), Jenny Guo, Michael Huang, Justice Washington and Elin Kim. Risk Pool will present at the next meeting of UT-Austin’s Actuarial Science Club.

The ASU and UT-Austin faculties were pleased with the support that CAS volunteers provided for the case competitions.

“Reflecting on the day, both the students and the faculty at ASU found this to be an invaluable experience,” said Jelena Milovanovic, ASU actuarial science coordinator. “Exposing students to a real-life scenario gives them an opportunity to learn about the actuarial profession whilst highlighting the importance of teamwork.”

“Exposing students to a real-life scenario gives them an opportunity to learn about the actuarial profession whilst highlighting the importance of teamwork.”

—Jelena Milovanovic, ASU actuarial science coordinator

Alisa Walch, FCAS, assistant director-actuarial program at UT-Austin, coordinated the case competition, which was the first ever hosted by the UT actuarial program. Walch said that the students benefited from the chance to network and get advice from the actuaries participating. “The competition . . . helped [the students] to start thinking like actuaries, leaving behind the idea that every problem has only one solution,” said Walch. “The competition was a success, and we’re hoping to do it again next year. A big thank you to the CAS for doing a lot of the work for us and putting together the case competition toolkit.”

The CAS toolkit materials are easily customizable for any competition. The toolkit was released in March 2016 to CAS University Liaisons and Academic Central Members and is available to CAS members who contact Tamar Gertner, CAS University Engagement Manager, at tgertner@casact.org.

In addition to providing the Case Competition Toolkit, the CAS is available to provide support and guidance with case competitions for university students, including volunteer recruitment and event promotion. Please contact the CAS University Engagement Committee for more details!

Melissa Tomita, FCAS, is an E&S director for Nationwide Insurance Company in Scottsdale, Arizona. Erin Olson, FCAS, is auto pricing director for United Services Automobile Association in San Antonio, Texas.