Nebraska Wesleyan University’s problem-solving contest enables students from different fields of study to collaborate and assist businesses in addressing complex challenges.  

Jason Coyle (’96) is the chief auditor and chief risk officer with Mutual of Omaha. “One issue we regularly deal with is fraud within the supplemental insurance for Medicare that seniors receive. For example, provider fraud and medical equipment fraud.”

Coyle then pitched that problem to nearly 30 NWU students. 

They were paired in groups of five or six, had two hours to analyze data, identify problems and present a solution. Coyle says one problem was for a patient who was billed for an out-of-state ambulance ride that they never received. “We wanted to give students an opportunity to use real life data, come up with insights on a problem that we continue to try and solve at Mutual of Omaha.”

He says students in different fields of study would be able to approach the problem with different viewpoints, which then led to novel solutions.

“When we bring a group of folks together that have either a similar discipline or a similar background, we may not notice things that are obvious,” Coyle says. “We had accounting students, but then we also had some criminal justice students that paired well with students who study data science.”  

Coyle says his company has implemented some of the solutions the students presented. “When they looked at different elements of the data from a different lens, that really helped. It gave us better perspective in regard to some theories that we were thinking about.” 

Two other companies have enlisted NWU students to help solve problems and another contest is planned this spring. 

NWU’s problem-solving contest helped lay the groundwork for the new Philip S. Mullin Innovation and Entrepreneurship program that was recently announced.