The insurance industry data standards organization ACORD announced today that University of Connecticut graduate student Manasa Ramaka has won the ACORD Student Challenge 2025, a national competition that asks university students to leverage cutting-edge technology to optimize real-world insurance processes.
Ramaka, a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science degree in Business Analytics and Project Management, received a $5,000 cash prize for her winning entry, which employed large language models (LLMs) to generate relevant data fields and validate preexisting data from five top pet insurance carriers.
Two runners-up, University of Connecticut graduate student Rutendo Mahanzu and Georgia Institute of Technology graduate researcher Pramod Misra, each received $2,000 cash prizes.
This year’s challenge asked participants to utilize AI tools to compile and analyze key data fields for underwriting pet insurance, a rapidly growing market segment—with premiums totaling more than $21 billion worldwide in 2024 and growing 12% annually. According to ACORD, compiling a canonical list of necessary data fields is the first step in providing structured, standardized data for this emerging line of business.
The ACORD Student Challenge presented contestants with tasks involving aspects of data architecture, prompt engineering, and process documentation. The students applied AI tools to create structured data sets of underwriting inputs, and presented to the judges a thorough explanation of their methodology and results.
ACORD said that the prize-winning projects will inform future development of the ACORD Data Standards, which are widely used throughout the global insurance industry.
Runner-up Mahanzu used AI programs to extract data from ACORD forms for other insurance policies, like homeowners and auto, to generate data fields for underwriting pet insurance, while Misra developed a custom AI agent and employed multiple LLMs to examine form templates, carrier practices, published underwriting manuals, and regulatory filings to structure insurance data into key categories.
All three finalists will also receive free passes to ACORD Connect 2026 and one year of mentorship with an industry professional.
Topics InsurTech Data Driven Artificial Intelligence Tech Georgia
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