Claflin University to Compete in HBCU Battle of the Brains

On March 7-10, Claflin University will compete in the HBCU Battle of the Brains competition in Austin, Tex. The mission of the HBCU Battle of the Brains competition is to promote the talented business and STEM students within the African American community while highlighting the technology industry, in an engaging and dynamic way.

As part of the qualification process, HBCUs were encouraged to send their best and brightest team representing various schools (business, communications, engineering, mathematics, marketing, public policy, science, technology, etc.).

This will be the first time Claflin has competed in this illustrious competition. The team consists for MacVincent Agha-Oko (computer engineering), Fredrick Uy (business administration), and Emmanuel Ndubuisi (computer science). More than 25 HBCUs from around the country will be competing for the top prize: $25,000. Teams will be encouraged to incorporate technology, design, policy, business and STEM components into their business solutions.

Teams do not know the competition's designated prompt until they arrive at the completion. Teams will have 24 hours to provide a comprehensive solution to the designated issue and then they will pitch their solution live in front of an audience and crowd participation will constitute one of the five final votes.

The team has been meeting regularly and brainstorming strategies for the competition. "We know that the competition is going to be tough especially since we have never competed at this specific competition before," said team