Image via David Collins Photography

By Niles Garrison, Features Editor 

Technology companies continue to be a staple in our society, but they tend to lack the diversity that is needed. National studies show that only 4 percent of data scientists are Black, a low number for a field that needs a variety of experiences and perspectives. For these reasons, Morehouse College has launched a new partnership with FICO, the leading global analytics company.  

FICO, an analytics software company, is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO sees the lack of diversity in the field and partnered with Morehouse to increase their diversity, equity and inclusion. 

The partnership was announced with a luncheon called “Fighting Fraudsters of Tomorrow with A.I.” Dr. Scott Zoldi, the chief analytics officer of FICO, discussed FICO’s educational analytics challenge and their current A.I. Fraud project to Morehouse students interested in careers in data science. 

“Diversity is critically important today,” Zoldi said. “We need lots of diverse views, and those views come from people from different backgrounds, whether it be different racial backgrounds, gender backgrounds, national backgrounds, or ethnicity. It is critically important so that when we build models, it is fair and there is no bias.” 

FICO’s partnership with Morehouse includes the educational analytics challenge, where the Men of Morehouse can be placed in a semester-long program that features remote mentoring from FICO’s leading data scientists and in-person lectures by Zoldi.  

“AI machine learning and the use of analytics is changing dramatically,” Zoldi said. 

“There are a lot of new things that we need to have the voice of the industry and the voice of academia to clash. The mentorship will help empower those students so that when they go into the workforce, they’re going to have that much better advantage.” 

The FICO Educational Analytics Challenge program is currently in its second year and after a successful 2023-24 debut, Morehouse students will join Bowie State and Delaware State University students in the eight to 12-week program. This year, FICO looks to approach new challenges focused on AI, analytics, and financial fraud detection.  

“The program is essentially a structured course where we have prepared materials for students to work with, so we can teach them the core concepts of how to detect fraud,” Zoldi said. “In addition, there is going to be a competition where we are going to measure who can build the best fraud detection model with the smallest amount of false positives. It is going to be really exciting and fun for the students.” 

FICO will also provide Morehouse with financial support to strengthen instruction in analytics and career resources in data science. The program will act as a bridge between students learning the field of analytics and entering the field as a true professional.  

“We want to drive that level of excitement with the students as they consider what they want to do after college,” Zoldi said. He added that FICO welcomes conversations with students who would like a formal internship or entry-level position. 

The semester-long program begins this fall with more Historically Black Colleges and Universities able to join in the spring semester as Zoldi and FICO hope to expand this partnership. Students can contact Dr. Alfred Watkins, chair of the Computer Science Department, for more information on FICO. 

“I’ve written over 140 patents in AI and machine learning over my 25 years at Fico, but over time, I’ve been much more fascinated with just helping people by enabling them to make better decisions with data,” Zoldi said. “And that’s what FICO is about. That’s what I’m about.” 

Copy Edited by Journalism Department Chair, Ron Thomas