In its fifth year, the Super Analytics Challenge, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, continues to make powerful change in the Pittsburgh region.
The Challenge addressed health care for the homeless, with the goal of connecting people who have unstable living situations with the health and medical care they need. The student participants worked closely with Allegheny Health Network Center for Inclusion Health and Veteran’s Health Administration. Pitt students were grouped into teams alongside Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, Penn State, and West Virginia University students.
Henry E. Haller Jr. Dean Gene Anderson spoke at the kick-off luncheon, “Our goal is to have the greatest possible impact on our students and the Pittsburgh community.”
Healthcare Solutions
The Challenge announced Team Seven as the year’s winner. Members of this team included:
- Jeromy Lamya, Duquesne University
- Abigail Moses, West Virginia University
- Shivangi Patel, Pitt Dental Medicine (DMD)
- Garhvita Sethi, Carnegie Mellon University
- Miao Yang, Pitt Applied Math PhD
- Executive Coach: Manoj Krishna, Accenture
Team Seven’s idea focused on providing preventative dental care to at-risk populations. “Our approach focused on prevention rather than intervention. Instead of solely addressing the needs of people already experiencing homelessness, we aimed to support high-risk individuals before they reached that point,” says Garhvita Sethi. “Through research, we found that oral healthcare is often overlooked despite its significant impact on overall well-being.”
Shivangi Patel (DMD ’25) heard of the Challenge through a university-wide bulletin. The dental student was immediately captivated by the topic and wanted to bring her knowledge of dentistry to the Challenge as well as learn from the many business student participants. “Dentistry is not just cosmetic. It is healthcare,” she says.
Ideas generated in the Challenge are intended to be implementable. Team Seven’s idea can come to life as a mobile dental unit providing care across the city.
The top four teams presented at the finale luncheon. The winners took home the $5,000 grand prize, Team Three won $3,750, and Team Five won $2,500.
Five Years and Beyond
The Challenge featured asynchronous components beginning in January and concluded with an on-site weekend of events on campus from February 7-9, 2025. Events included a professional development conference, job fair, judging finale, and luncheon with community partners.
Previous Challenges have tackled homelessness, food insecurity, workforce development, and mental health. Looking to the future, Head of the Office of Strategic Partnerships at Pitt Business, Christopher Barlow would like to see the Challenge grow in scope and impact. “The hard work begins now as we connect the student ideas to form projects in partnership with non-government and civic organizations. This is how we impact people’s lives. To date, we have completed 36 projects through our connective Bridge Program. We have positively impacted tens of thousands of people and will continue to do so.”
Special Thanks
The Office of Strategic Partnerships and Graduate Programs and Career Management team at Katz give special thanks to participating community partners including Allegheny Health Network Center for Inclusion Health and Veteran’s Health Administration.
Thank you as well to the advisory committee members, executive coaches, expert contributors, professional development workshop presenters, and academic community partners.