In late March, our NIU College of Business hosted its HAVI Hackathon event. Thirty-five students from across campus gathered to compete in teams with a common goal: To build forecasting models to predict the daily quantity sold for each of 50 menu items across a network of 15 quick-service restaurants located in the Midwestern United States.
“35 students spanning multiple classifications — from freshmen to Ph.D. students — and representing different colleges and majors, were presented with a real, complex business problem and given just 72 hours to improve their wMAPE (Weighted Mean Absolute Percentage Error), which is a rigorous forecasting accuracy metric used daily by industry professionals in supply chain and demand planning,” said Biagio Palese, associate professor in the Department of Operations Management and Information Systems, who co-organized the event. “That kind of pressure on a real problem, with a real deadline, mirrors what the professional world actually looks like — and our students rose to the occasion.”
Students were provided with five years of historical daily sales data, enriched with weather data, holiday indicators, local event calendars and promotional flags. Their task was to forecast the last three months as accurately as possible using any technique they chose, such as classical statistical methods and state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms.
Submissions were evaluated by a panel of judges based on forecast accuracy, methodology, innovation and a live presentation at HAVI.
On April 8, Associate Professor Ying Wang and Palese accompanied 20 NIU students who participated in the competition to HAVI’s headquarters in Chicago for the hackathon’s “grand finale.” The top three teams competed in front of HAVI leadership in a real-world professional setting.
“I could not be prouder of every single one of them,” said Palese. “HAVI employees were genuinely impressed by our students’ professionalism, analytical skills and poise — and that says everything.”
Congratulations to our winning teams:
- First Place:Hubert Stasik (ACCY), Ashutosh Mode (OM&IS), Xander “Alex” Mills (OMIS), Nimish Bhangale (OM&IS).
- Second Place: Anthony Baptiste (OM&IS), Mario Reyes (OMIS), Nirovro Swadhin (OM&IS).
- Third Place:Rahul Jangir (OM&IS), Adriana Elizalde (Business Administration), Srdjan Kuljanin (OM&IS), Priyanka Kulkarni (OM&IS).
Every team brought serious effort to this competition, thoughtful analysis and a genuine competitive spirit, making the selection of the top three winners especially challenging.
Many students who competed and did not place in the hackathon went on to accompany the winning teams to HAVI and support them. While they were not among the presenting teams, they showed up with professionalism, supported their peers, engaged directly with HAVI leadership and networked like seasoned professionals. Thanks to the Ratna Prasad Chowdary Paladagu, Paola Perez, Melissa Romero, Beline Shukuru, Sara Petrovska, Varshini Maskapuri, Isabella Sussex, Adhwaith Sudarsana and Zach Malkowski for their efforts.
“The 2026 edition was our most ambitious yet — a multiphase, multiday event, with the final presentations screen-casted globally by HAVI to their international teams,” Palese said. “We deepened an already strong partnership with one of the world’s leading supply chain companies, and we created an experience our students will carry with them long after graduation. This is experiential learning at its finest.”
Palese credited HAVI team members for their collaboration and investment, adding that the company is the “perfect partner every academic hopes for.” HAVI’s Aureo Zanon, Juan Ramirez and Venkata Nekkanti were particularly integral to the coordination of this year’s event.
Palese also credited NIU College of Business’ Rachel Schmit, Susie Horton and Ying Wang, as well as the Ignite x OMIS group, for supporting the competition.
“It takes a village to make this type of event a success, and I am lucky to work with amazing people,” he said.
Learn more about the NIU College of Business’ partnership with HAVI.
