UCF’s team secured first place in the fourth annual Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Battle of the Brains competition, presented by global financial organization KPMG. UCF’s team beat 17 others to win the $50,000 top prize — marking the university’s second victory as national champions.

The event, which was held Oct. 2-5, featured a 17-hour case competition, followed by three days of networking, professional development sessions, a career fair, and final presentations at KPMG Lakehouse, the firm’s state-of-the-art learning and innovation center.

UCF’s winning team comprises eight students from the College of Business and College of Engineering and Computer Science:

• Ignacio Battaglia – business economics and finance student
• Katherine Beltré – integrated business student
• Caitlin Castro – accounting student, Burnett Honors College scholar
• Mariana Guerrero – accounting student
• Jeff Linares – integrated business student with a professional selling minor
• Daniel Millán-Nieves – industrial engineering student
• Julia Da Silva ’22 – team captain, computer science alum and current engineering management master’s student
• Isidoro Serrano – accounting student

The team was led by faculty advisor David Penn, a lecturer in the Department of Integrated Business with a diverse background in IT, project management, business, digital film technology and museum management.

Penn attributes UCF’s success to “the incredible synergy of talented student leaders coming together, driven by a shared passion for integrating business and STEM. Their collaboration, mutual support and commitment to mastering optimal presentation techniques fostered innovation and inspired the audience.”

“At UCF, we pride ourselves in our HSI mission of ‘servingness’ and intentionality, and our participation in the HSI Battle of the Brains over the years embodies just that,” says Cyndia Morales Muñiz ’13EdD, senior director for Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives at UCF. “What I appreciate the most about this competitive experience is the learning environment that encourages our students to lean into their cultural assets as they pursue professional success.”

The HSI Battle of the Brains competition encourages participants to integrate accounting, design, policy, business, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) disciplines into their case presentations. Teams are tasked with developing a business solution that features transformational technology, marketing strategies, and detailed analyses. Judging criteria include business and technology solutions, mastery of the subject matter, and the teams’ ability to respond to judges’ questions.

Alexis Johnson, COO of HSI Battle of the Brains, praised UCF’s team for “integrating business and technology with an amazing presentation that proposed transformative solutions.”

Highlighting UCF’s commitment to innovation, its interdisciplinary team presented a groundbreaking business and technology solution that reflected creativity and excellence. The win further solidifies UCF’s rank among the nation’s top five most innovative public universities and its status as Florida’s most innovative institution for seven consecutive years.

It also marks UCF’s fourth consecutive series of victories across multiple competition categories — underscoring the university’s four-year partnership between the College of Business, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the Office for Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives.

In its first year competing, UCF won the Best Business Solution Scholarship, presented by Dell Technologies. In 2022, UCF’s team claimed the overall national championship title and $25,000. UCF earned third place in the National Presentation category in 2023, along with $10,000 in prize money and additional scholarships. UCF’s 2024 victory builds on this legacy of success.

The competition, founded by social entrepreneur Gregory Gibson Jr., aims to highlight the contributions of HSI institutions and provide a platform for exceptional Hispanic students in business and STEM fields.

The 2024 competition featured a distinguished panel of preliminary judges from major sponsors, including Title Sponsor KPMG, Champion Sponsor Capital One, Angel Sponsors Dell Technologies, eBay and Thrivent, as well as Innovator Sponsors Electronic Arts and VISA.