Teddy Ryan Wins SJU/SAP/POI Analytics Cup

2015 May 11

Teddy Ryan of Glenside Park, PA (19038), was a member of the first place team in Saint Joseph's University's Second Annual Business Intelligence and Analytics Cup, which challenges students to apply their knowledge in the field of data mining and statistical methods. Held on Tuesday, May 5, the competition, sponsored by software, technology and business applications company, SAP, and the Promotion Optimization Institute (POI), was the culmination of a capstone course, taught by SJU professor Ron Klimberg, Ph.D.

32 undergraduates, three graduate students and four independent studies worked in teams of three or four to prepare for the cup throughout the spring semester. Each team was assigned a real-world data set, and was tasked with applying the tools and statistical methods they learned through the semester to develop a scenario and present to a panel of judges comprised of industry professionals.

"This is a great chance for students to get involved in real-life scenarios - to deal with the messiness of data and how to approach challenging tasks using state-of-the-art software," says Klimberg.

A Finance and Business Intelligence and Analytics major at SJU, Ryan was a member of the winning team, whose data set focused specifically on U.S. corporate bond trades. The team used predictive analytics and data mining tools to forecast future bond prices.