A team of actuarial science students advanced to the semifinals of the Society of Actuaries’ (SOA) Student Research Case Study Challenge. The challenge provides students with the opportunity to apply their actuarial skills to real-world problems through case study research.

Jacob Gebert, Josh Herzog, Evan Koenig and John Williams focused their case study on Parametric Insurance. Over the course of eight weeks, they were required to research their case study situation, conduct actuarial analysis, formulate solutions and present recommendations to judges. Out of 64 submissions, MSOE’s team was one of 17 teams chosen to move on to the semifinals.  

In a second competition, groups of actuarial science students also participated in this year’s Pinnacle University, a one-day research conference hosted by Pinnacle Actuarial Resources Inc. This year’s event was held virtually via a live-stream broadcast. The event challenged students to work with Pinnacle’s professionals to research a topic of actuarial- and insurance-related significance over the course of several weeks. The teams then presented their findings to a panel of credentialed actuaries from Pinnacle, insurance companies, schools and other organizations that critiqued and discussed the conclusions, content and execution of the presentation.

Meghan Karbarz, Shawn Tipton and Isaac Wiegand presented “An analysis of pre- and post-arbitration figures for MLB players to create an insurance product for pre-arb years.”  Sam Peterson presented “Usage-based insurance.” MSOE’s students were commended by Pinnacle for the quality of their research and their outstanding presentations.