Three teams of students recently participated in the Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge, a global competition that tests Excel modeling and logical thinking skills through case studies, real-world problem solving and data analysis.
Managerial economics majors Andrew Keaveney '26 and Julian Murdoch ‘26 finished third out of 23 teams in the February competition, bested only by teams from the University of Kentucky and the University of Arizona.
Students Francesco Ciaramitaro '28 , Chris Wearing '26 and Lu De Azevedo ‘27 compete in a recent Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge from the Peter Irving Wold Center.
The event is part of Financial Modeling World Cup which organizes esports competitions for developing and showcasing advanced skills in Excel, data modeling and analytical problem solving. Each season begins in January with a series of virtual competitions throughout the year, and culminates in a live championship event in Las Vegas in December.
The timed, two-hour competitions are based on simulations. For the February competition, students had to solve a series of problems using data on sales from a restaurant, including what type of pizza sells best, how much inventory one should carry and other challenges.
“Excel is an incredibly versatile tool,” said Tomas Dvorak, the David L. '39 and Beverly B. Yunich Professor of Business Ethics, the advisor to the Union teams. He teaches a course in business analytics that uses Excel. Most of the students who competed are from that class.
“You can build financial models, optimization, data analysis. It builds analytical and problem-solving skills. Making and playing with any Excel model is incredible for building one's intuition for how a business or a particular business problem works.”
Other students who competed in the January and February competitions were Cole Brisson '27, Lu De Azevedo ‘27, Tanner Langis '27, Jack McGrath '27, Christina Rallis '27, Thomas Short '26, Chris Wearing '26, Jill Weinpahl '27 and Francesco Ciaramitaro '28.
By virtue of their third-place finish, Keaveney and Murdoch qualified for the Las Vegas championship in December, but as seniors won’t be eligible to participate.
Students practice throughout the academic year for each competition. The next one is this month, and Dvorak expects Union to also participate.
“I am very proud of the students that participated in the competition,” Dvorak said. “This was a very small part of what they all do on and off campus. They took on a challenge, worked in teams, and, I think, had fun doing it. It was great to see students open to new experiences and challenges.”