Team competing in the 2017 competition.
Students from five universities will compete in the DU Analytics Challenge hosted by the Daniels College of Business Friday, April 6, on the University of Denver campus. Teams from Daniels, the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University and Oklahoma State University analyzed data from Food Bank of the Rockies and will share their recommendations on how the organization can better use its food and resources to serve its constituents.
Food Bank of the Rockies distributes food and essentials to more than 500 hunger-relief programs in Northern Colorado including Metropolitan Denver, the Eastern Plains, the Western Slope and the entire state of Wyoming.
The students were given five data files, including orders for food and inventory tracking information. Based on this information, Food Bank of the Rockies wants to know:
- Whether certain counties are underserved in terms of a specific food category?
- Do agency orders correlate to health outcomes in different counties?
- Which items move fastest? Does the agency support fee affect speed of movement out of the warehouse?
- Does the Western Slope or Wyoming location move a particular product faster than the main warehouse in Metropolitan Denver?
“The students are challenged to find insights that can be used by Food Bank of the Rockies to make resource decisions,” says Andrew Urbaczewski, chair of Daniels’ Department of Business Information and Analytics. “We expect our partner, Food Bank of the Rockies, to walk away with real solutions and we know our students are getting real-world experience.”
Event: DU Analytics Challenge
Time: Friday, April 6
1-4 p.m.
Place: Anderson Academic Commons
University of Denver
2150 E. Evans Ave.
Denver, CO 80210
Note: Students will present their recommendations from 1-2:30 p.m. Judging will take place from 2:30- 3 p.m. Members of the media are welcome to attend the entire event or show up around 3 p.m. to interview the winning team, judges from Food Bank of the Rockies and Professor Andrew Urbaczewski.