Nerves?
There were plenty.
Determination to thrive amid discomfort?
It was there, and more for the winning team of Karina Grabine, Jack Matczak and Sophia Sabates during INFO-I101 and Deloitte Case Competition at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering.
Their presentation beat out 10 other teams and 35 other students over a two-week case period.
Presentations involved three categories highlighted by Empowering Underrepresented Innovators and Technologists of the Future; and Cultivating Underrepresented Talent.
The winning team’s case focused on cultivating that underrepresented talent.
“Our solution targeted high school students in highest low-income areas in the United States to get more diverse talent in the work force,” Grabine said. She’s a junior majoring in cognitive science with a minor in human-centered computing.
Competition organizer Logan Paul, Luddy senior faculty member in Informatics, said during the semester, student groups iterated on a digital portfolio to highlight an underrepresented innovator in technology. The case competition asked them to take the skills they learned and the knowledge they acquired to take it a step further – moving beyond the past and producing a forward-thinking strategy to move the needle for building and developing a more inclusive tech workforce.
“All 11 teams that presented took different approaches and produced rather unique approaches and solutions to the cases,” Paul said. “I was ecstatic to see their skills from the class – iteration, research, technical proficiency – come through in the presentation of their solutions.”
Judges were Deloitte’s Todd Blake and Morgan Brockman; IU Associate Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Monica Johnson; Luddy Professor of Informatics Katie Siek; and Luddy Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Paul Macklin.
Organizers were Deloitte’s Brendan Miller, Ashlee Grady and Megan Morgan, as well as Chase McCoy, Luddy faculty member in Informatics. Miller, Grady and Morgan are IU graduates.
Paul said, because of the quality of the presentations, determining the winners was challenging and time consuming.
Blake praised all the teams’ preparation and ability to answer questions without hesitation and uncertainty. He did offer one piece of advice:
“Never use, ‘As I said before,’ during a presentation.”
The reason – it’s unnecessary and implies the judges weren’t paying attention.
Miller said the case competition provided a unique opportunity to showcase Luddy students’ innovating thinking and problem-solving abilities.
“Events such as these are important to Deloitte not only to increase our exposure to Luddy’s top talent, but also to reinforce our belief that diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values integral to our differentiation and success,” he said.
Grabine said she used the experience to improve her presentation and communication skills.
“I need to be good at presenting. I will have to do research, work on tight deadlines with a group of people and present it. Doing that well will translate into the workforce.”
Sabates, a junior majoring in informatics, said the team overcame scheduling challenges, nerves and the extra pressure of looming finals. Lots of practice helped.
“We did a great job at being a solid team and of being there for each other.
Matczak, a freshman majoring in informatics with a cognate in music, said learning to work as a team was critical.
“As a freshman, I haven’t had a lot of experience with that in a college setting. This was a good way to learn.”
Paul told the participants during the awards ceremony that there’s always room for improvement. It’s about how to solve the problem down the road and well as today.
“Turn empathy into action,” he said.
Johnson said that when it comes to diversity, winning does not mean arrival. She emphasized that you have to sustain it, and that when an organization deals with diversity, it’s about what’s the issue with the organization, and not the population.
“Find today’s solution,” she said.
Owen Ciscell, a freshman majoring in cybersecurity and global policy, said he used the competition to build a base for future success.
“It was my first case competition. I wanted to get a sense of what this is like and make new connections.”
Paul thanked the IU alumni mentors from Deloitte from around the country who worked with student groups to give feedback, as well as the Deloitte partners who helped envision, organize, and run this case competition.
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