{"653526":{"#nid":"653526","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Master of Science in Analytics Team Wins Humana-Mays Healthcare Analytics Case Competition","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFour students from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/analytics.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMaster of Science in Analytics\u003C\/a\u003E (MSA) program took first place at the 2021 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/mays.tamu.edu\/humana-tamu-analytics\/\u0022\u003EHumana-Mays Healthcare Analytics Case Competition\u003C\/a\u003E, a partnership between Mays Business School at Texas A\u0026amp;M University and the health and well-being company Humana Inc. The team includes M.S. Analytics students \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/siyan-cai\/\u0022\u003ESiyan Cai\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/maqliu\/?trk=public_profile_browsemap\u0022\u003EManqiu Liu\u003C\/a\u003E, Tsz Fung Pang, and Jia Shi.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s MSA is an interdisciplinary program that leverages the strengths of the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, the College of Computing, and the Scheller College of Business. The case competition was open to students from master\u0026rsquo;s programs in business, healthcare, or analytics. More than 750 students representing 75 major universities across the country competed, and the winning team received the first-place prize of $50,000 following a virtual presentation to an executive panel of judges.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe challenge of the case competition was to minimize health inequities and address vaccine hesitance among vulnerable and underserved populations using the power of data analytics. Students were asked to utilize prescriptive and predictive modelling to predict vaccine hesitancy in specific segments, and accordingly propose targeted outreach to remove the barriers of the hesitant populations to receive vaccinations.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This case focused on a very distinctive segment of the population in the healthcare industry, so it was difficult at the beginning to grasp the problem, especially since none of us had any domain knowledge,\u0026rdquo; said Cai.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHowever, the team was not intimidated, and they performed a lot of research on the topic, consulting with field experts and conducting many discussions and brainstorming sessions. After understanding the context and central problem to solve, the students broke the case into three key questions to be solved. These questions laid a foundational framework for their analysis and strategies; as they moved forward, they made sure to always address the questions at the heart of their solution.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne of the challenges the team faced was dealing with a very large dataset, which included approximately one million records of Humana Medicare members with more than 400 features. During the data preprocessing, they extensively leveraged data manipulation techniques, ending up with a model that ranked top five in the leaderboard.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe main reason why the team\u0026rsquo;s model has high predictive power is that they performed well-rounded data preparation. Rather than merely applying modeling techniques to fix the problem, the students focused on the fundamental causes of bias in the dataset as well as alternative solutions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We wanted to aid the disadvantaged and find solutions to address vaccine disparity and inequity,\u0026rdquo; said Liu. \u0026ldquo;We believe that data science has the potential to benefit society, and this competition is an excellent opportunity for us to see what kind of beneficial influence analytics may have.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMore than 750 students representing 75 major universities across the country competed for the $50,000 prize.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"More than 750 students representing 75 major universities across the country competed for the $50,000 prize."}],"uid":"35757","created_gmt":"2021-12-08 22:49:25","changed_gmt":"2022-08-24 21:13:39","author":"goberst3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-12-10T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2021-12-10T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"653465":{"id":"653465","type":"image","title":"Manqiu Liu, Tsz Fung Pang, Siyan Cai, and Jia Shi (clockwise from top left)","body":null,"created":"1638901743","gmt_created":"2021-12-07 18:29:03","changed":"1638901786","gmt_changed":"2021-12-07 18:29:46","alt":"Manqiu Liu, Tsz Fung Pang, Siyan Cai, and Jia Shi (clockwise from top left)","file":{"fid":"247846","name":"Clockwise-Manqiu Liu, Tsz Fung Panf, Siyan Cai, and Jia Shi.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Clockwise-Manqiu%20Liu%2C%20Tsz%20Fung%20Panf%2C%20Siyan%20Cai%2C%20and%20Jia%20Shi.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Clockwise-Manqiu%20Liu%2C%20Tsz%20Fung%20Panf%2C%20Siyan%20Cai%2C%20and%20Jia%20Shi.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":384562,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Clockwise-Manqiu%20Liu%2C%20Tsz%20Fung%20Panf%2C%20Siyan%20Cai%2C%20and%20Jia%20Shi.jpg?itok=iXNg8FwO"}}},"media_ids":["653465"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"},{"id":"660346","name":"Master of Science in Analytics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:grace_oberst@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EGrace Oberst\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Assistant\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nH. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}