Seventeen Missouri University of Science and Technology teams recently competed in a case study competition for the chance to earn a $1,000 prize and a mentoring session with executives from AT&T Inc., the event’s sponsor.

The event, hosted by Missouri S&T’s business and information technology (BIT) department, was held Nov. 6-10. The winning team consisted of S&T students Jose Miguel Alega, a freshman in computer science from St. Charles, Missouri; Allison Chan, a freshman in computer science from Chesterfield, Missouri; Sreevaishnav Deevi, a freshman in computer science from Ellisville, Missouri; and Luis Emmanuel Ocampo, a freshman in information science and technology from Chesterfield, Missouri.

This year’s case study competition focused on smart cities. Each team was presented with a unique problem facing metropolitan areas and then asked to choose a city. Teams then developed a “smart city” solution to a problem that utilized AT&T’s existing resources. Representatives from AT&T and BIT judged the teams on their understanding of the concepts and presentation slides. After a paring down from 17, the top seven teams presented their findings to the judge’s panel.

“I’m excited that our second annual partnership with AT&T was such a success,” says Dr. Sarah Stanley, assistant professor of business and information technology at Missouri S&T. “The students impressed our guest judges and S&T has a lot to be proud of. This case was very different from last year; it allowed students to utilize a creativity that was unprecedented and encouraged a wide range of interesting ideas and conversations.”

After the competition, students on the winning team will attend a mentoring session with both a vice president and a director from AT&T to talk about the real-world applications of the competition and learn more about the industry. The second-place team earned $500 and the third-place team earned $250.

Learn more about the competition on the BIT Facebook page at facebook.com/MSTBIT.