Otterbein University has been competing annually in the Manhattan College Analytics Competition since 2017.

The competition usually focuses on matters related to public policy, societal good, and institutions. Recent topics have centered on understanding pandemics, predicting energy consumption, and allocating federal funding for primary and secondary education.

Participation remains open to any student who maintains full time status as of the Spring term and regardless of major.

In late January, the team receives a dataset and has roughly three months to organize and analyze it. A poster submission is due in mid-April with the competition held in late April. Starting with the 2021 competition, the format has been a one-day competition held virtually. All teams present in the morning heat. Finalists present in the afternoon heat.

In 2019, the team finished fifth and earned hardware. Most recently in 2022, the team took seventh out of 30 teams. Participation is open to any undergraduate student who is pursuing a degree full time at Otterbein. Recent participants of Otterbein students are from marketing and business analytics programs at the Department of Business, Accounting & Economics. If you would like to participate or want more information, then please contact Dr. Yiyuan (Ava) Liu.