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FICO Educational Analytics Challenge Program Returns for a Third Year, Empowering Aspiring Student Data Scientists to Build AI Language Models

By: FICO via Business Wire

September 02, 2025 at 08:00 AM EDT

Bowie State University, Delaware State University, Morehouse College, and Alabama A&M University are set to return, tackling a new challenge designed to teach students how to develop real-world AI skills

FICO (NYSE: FICO):

Global analytics software leader FICO announced its FICO® Educational Analytics Challenge is returning for a third year this Fall ’25-Spring ’26 school year to cultivate the next generation of data scientists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) nationwide. The semester-long program will provide aspiring data scientists with a real-world problem to solve using data and AI. FICO’s Chief Analytics Officer, Dr. Scott Zoldi, and his team of industry data scientists will spearhead the program, provide weekly lectures, and mentor the students along the way.

“FICO played a pivotal role in supporting our university to introduce a newly approved Data Science minor,” said Dr. Zhengtao Deng, Dean of the College of Engineering at Alabama A&M University. “Our students are bright, motivated, and many are aspiring data scientists. We are excited to welcome back the Analytics Challenge and to provide our students with this unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience working alongside industry data scientists and exploring real-world applications of AI.”

FICO is proud to partner with Bowie State University, Delaware State University, Morehouse College, and Alabama A&M University for the Fall 2025 semester. The Analytics Challenge presents a new challenge annually. This year's focus emphasizes addressing authentic business problems through custom AI language model systems. The challenge is designed to show students how AI, LLMs and chatbots work and how they are trained. The course covers the underlying mechanisms of neural networks, transformers, large language models, and FICO’s focused language model approach.

“Over the past few years, FICO has collaborated with hundreds of students and faculty through the Analytics Challenge,” said Dr. Zoldi. “Inspiring the next generation of data scientists is just one component of the program. At FICO, we're committed to educating students on the responsible use of AI and look forward to guiding them as they develop their own GenAI-focused language models. These students are not only gaining valuable industry experience, but also exploring the paths that will help them achieve their future goals.”

The Analytics Challenge allows students with data science, engineering, and technology backgrounds to improve their AI skills. The challenge also provides financial support to enhance analytics study for each participating university and students, as well as 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, led by Congresswoman Alma Adams and Congressman French Hill.

To learn more about the FICO Educational Analytics Challenge, including how to get involved, visit: https://www.fico.com/en/feac

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.

Learn more at https://www.fico.com/en.

Join the conversation at https://x.com/FICO_corp & https://www.fico.com/blogs/

For FICO news and media resources, visit https://www.fico.com/en/newsroom.

FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250902587534/en/

FICO announced its FICO® Educational Analytics Challenge is returning for a third year this Fall ’25-Spring ’26 school year to cultivate the next generation of data scientists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) nationwide.

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press@fico.com

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FICO Educational Analytics Challenge Program Returns for a Third Year, Empowering Aspiring Student Data Scientists to Build AI Language Models

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