February 7-9, 2025

The University of South Carolina (USC) Big Data Health Science Student Case Competition provides enthusiastic teams of graduate and/or senior undergraduate students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge to the analysis of big datasets in healthcare.

The National Big Data Health Science Case Competition is held virtually before the USC’s National Big Data Health Science Conference, which takes place in February every year. The competition is designed to be a hands-on experience that tests the undergraduate or graduate students’ analytical, teamwork, communication, and presentation skills in order to build a talent pipeline in big data health science. Participating teams will be given the same business problem, datasets, and access to software to solve a challenging problem using a data analytics approach. Team members will work together to present their methods and analysis results at the Big Data Health Science Conference. A panel of industry and academic experts will judge the presentations based on teams’ use of the full analytics process, from framing the problem to methodology selection, data use, model building, and innovation.

Messages from the 2024 winners

Registration for the Case Competition now Open!

Step 1: Registration Form
Step 2: USC Marketplace

Registration will be processed in two steps:

(1) Complete the Registration Form;

(2) Checkout from the University of South Carolina Marketplace webpage.

The registration fee is $150

Team registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis until January 29, 2025

or until 30 teams have registered (the maximum number of teams we can accommodate).

If you have any questions about the competition rules and instructions, please contact Audrey Auen at akkuhn@email.sc.edu.

If you would prefer to be invoiced for this and would like to pay by check, please contact Joanne Zwemer at zwemer@mailbox.sc.edu

Competition Format & Case Analysis

  • The competition will be conducted only in English.
  • Students will receive competition rules, the data sources, team assignments after virtual polling and receive a power point presentation template on the first day of the case competition on February 7, 2025 Eastern Standard Time.
  • Each team will be given 24 hours to devise a solution for the case (February 8 [1st round] and 9, 2025 [semifinals, and finals], to submit a Power Point presentation, and an executive summary. The time spent analyzing the case will be very intense and focused.
  • Teams are expected to produce original work.
  • Teams may not consult with non-team members during preparation of the case analysis or any time during of competition. This includes anyone outside of the team, faculty, advisors, staff, ambassadors, and fellow students.
  • To further safeguard the integrity of the competition, students may be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
  • Solutions from the top three “willing” winning teams will be packaged for conference abstract submissions and eventual publication in reputable academic journals.

Team Composition

  • Participants must form a team of three members with an alternate at-large member.
  • Each team will be comprised of currently enrolled undergraduate and/or graduate students from any accredited university or institution of higher learning in the U.S.

PowerPoint Presentation

  • Teams must submit a solution proposal of up to 12 Power Point slides (including cover and index) and teams are allowed no more than 4 additional slides of appendices.
  • Teams must also submit an executive summary. The written executive summary must highlight the key points/approach of the team’s solution for the case study in a two-page narrative format. All summaries will be judged and scored in advance of the presentation by a panel of judges.
    • The written executive summary should not exceed two pages.
    • The summary must use Times New Roman 12-point font and must be single-spaced.
  • Teams will need to copy both the PowerPoint file and Executive Summary and upload it onto the portals provided for the presentation.

Tentative Virtual Oral Presentation Rules

  • Each team will use PowerPoint slides to give a live oral presentation on the day(s) of the competition (February 8-9, 2025). The presentations may not be longer than 15 minutes.
  • A pre-recorded copy of the presentation must be made available as a back-up in case technology fails during the live session.
  • An additional 15 minutes will be allotted for Q&A. If a team finishes its presentation early, it will proceed with its 15-minute question-and-answer session.
  • A panel of judges will ask questions they deem appropriate and judge the presentation.
  • Teams can introduce themselves to the judges during a 5-minute setup period.
  • All team members are expected to offer equal contributions to the presentation.
  • Dress is business professional.
  • Teams will not be allowed to observe other team presentations during the preliminary rounds. Once eliminated, teams can observe all subsequent presentations.

Judging

  • Each team presentation will be judged by a panel of three to seven judges. These judges will be composed of industry and academic representatives.
  • A confusion matrix or similar measure for model performance will be used to score each team’s final product.

Prizes

  • First Prize $5,000
  • Second Prize $3,000
  • Third Prize $2,000
  • Non-ranking Finalists: Prize or Cash Awards

Award money will be split equally among winning team members. Winning teams will be recognized during the opening session of the National Big Data Health Science Conference on Thursday, February 13, 2025.