For the third time in as many years, some Alabama A&M University students accepted an invitation to compete in the third FICO Educational Analytics Challenge.

FICO created the program for aspiring scientists, engineers or anyone seeking a data-driven career. The project is specifically for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Other schools participating include Bowie State University, Delaware State University and Morehouse College.

The current Challenge for the Fall ’25–Spring ’26 school year focuses on solving real-world financial services problems through the development of small language models. FICO, a leading credit services company, is officially known as Fair Isaac Corporation, named for the founders who established it in 1956.

The company started with its headquarters in California but is now based in Montana.

Dr. Scott Zoldi, Chief Analytics Officer at FICO, and his team of data scientists spearhead the program, which involves weekly lectures, virtual meetings and mentoring the students.

“FICO is a proud participant in the HBCU Partnership Challenge, an initiative of the Bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities Caucus and led by Congresswoman Alma Adams and Congressman French Hill,’’ Zoldi said.

The FICO program is targeting HBCUs to diversify and curtail bias in the data science and AI fields.

“Through this partnership, FICO is connected to HBCUs who have expressed interest in participating in the program,’’ Zoldi said. “We have worked with seven universities and more than 200 undergraduate and graduate students to date, with more to come next semester.’’

Dr. Ed Pearson, a professor at Alabama A&M and faculty member who oversees the school’s Challenge team, said reaction to the program from the student body has been positive.

“The feedback from students has shown an overwhelming amount of enthusiasm,’’ he said. “Each year, a growing number of students sign up to participate in the Challenge. Furthermore, students have indicated that the skills gained from this experience have been instrumental in securing summer internships.’’

According to Zoldi, FICO presents a new Analytics Challenge annually and it brings real financial services business problems to the HBCU students.

“This year, students are focused on creating a small language model, so students walk away with a better understanding of how AI and large language models (LLMs) work and are trained,’’ he said. “Students will be exposed to the underlying mechanisms of neural networks, transformers, LLMs, and FICO’s own approach to focused language models.

Two Alabama A&M undergraduate students, Bukata Mubanga and Thabo Ibrahim Traore, are participating in the Challenge this fall and spring.

“I registered to gain hands-on experience applying data analytics to real-world business problems and to challenge myself in a competitive learning environment,’’ Mubanga said. “I hope to strengthen my technical and problem-solving skills, learn industry-relevant tools, and collaborate with peers while gaining insights into analytics applications in business.”

Traore has similar ideas.

“I hope to gain deeper insights into how data can be analyzed and applied in meaningful ways, including being ethical, while also strengthening my technical skills and learning from collaboration with peers,’’ he said.

The program has grown at Alabama A&M.

“At the student level,’’ Zoldi said, ‘’we have seen success in students becoming empowered to pursue careers in data science and many considering continuing their education and obtaining a master’s degree. At the university level, FICO continues to play a pivotal role in encouraging the implementation of new data science curriculum.

“At Alabama A&M University, FICO played an influential role in introducing a new Data Science minor, which helps aspiring data scientists gain the AI and analytics experience, and knowledge needed to be competitive in today’s workforce.’’