Texas State students win big at Battle of the Brains

SAN MARCOS, Texas — A team of Texas State University students won second place and a $5,000 award at the 5th annual Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Battle of the Brains competition held October 1-5 in Austin, Texas.

The interdisciplinary team represented Texas State in the 24-hour challenge, which brings together students from across the U.S., ranging from first-year college students to graduate students, to solve complex business and technology problems.

In the five years Texas State has competed, this is the university's first top-three finish.

"It was the interdisciplinary nature of the team," said the team's faculty advisor, Dr. Seth Frei, chief of staff and assistant dean at Texas State University’s McCoy College of Business. "Team members come in with their own perspectives and their own areas of expertise that they've developed through their time as students at Texas State. With strong leadership from Nina and Melissa as our co-captains, they helped to bring out the strengths of this team. It's always that mix of new and fresh ideas coming into it that helps us succeed."

Teams from each competing university had 24 hours to develop a solution based on the business challenges presented to them. The competition portion took place from 7 am, Thursday, October 2, to 7 am, Friday, October 3. Teams were encouraged to incorporate design, policy, business, and tech components into their business solutions.

This year's prompt called for a solution that could help businesses deliver more effective personalized ads while minimizing their environmental footprint. Accounting senior and the team's co-captain, Melissa Cruz — recognized as the first and only student in competition history to compete for four consecutive years, from freshman to senior year — said the competition was demanding yet rewarding.

"The most challenging moment is definitely staying on track with our initial plan," Cruz said. "As hours go by, one wants to improve their solution by adding features; however, that gets messy and difficult to explain without being part of the team. The most memorable moment during the 24-hour portion was during our last 20 minutes. We were trying to remain silent as Dipesh Pandit and Jimena Gonzalez were working on finishing the tech solution deliverable. Anissah Cisneros, Pablo Berumen, and I were feeling nauseous and uneasy as time was getting closer. Around 6:58 am, we had finally submitted all deliverables, and I felt a wave of relief."

The 2025 team included: 

• Anissah (Nina) Cisneros, Master of Accountancy, team co-captain
• Melissa Cruz, Accounting, team co-captain
• Carolina Narvaez, Computer Science
• Xitlali Carrol, Economics & German
• Pablo Berumen, Finance
• Dipesh Pandit, Computer Science
• Jimena Gonzalez, Industrial Engineering
• Javier Rivas Ghersi, Finance

In addition to the competition, students participated in company tours, including one at Dell, and attended workshops designed to help them expand their skill sets beyond the classroom. They also had the opportunity to participate in official panel discussions with industry professionals.

"Competing in HSI Battle of the Brains has shaped my professional development by opening doors that are not necessarily open to everyone," Cruz said. "Executives and directors from companies are recognizing me from my previous years. Recruiters ask how my year has been."

The university's Hispanic Business Student Association chapter sponsored the team, covering the costs for the team to attend the event. According to its website, HSI Battle of the Brains serves as an academic national championship for Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and an experiential recruiting showcase of top talent from colleges and universities across the country.

Following the competition in previous years, participants have earned scholarships from Dell and eBay, as well as secured internships and full-time positions with major corporations, including Dell and Thrivent.

"There's a lot of benefit that comes from being a part of this type of event that we've seen over the years," Frei said. "We have an opportunity to take our students out of the classroom and put them in a situation like they'll experience in the workplace, where they need to work with teams from across a company to tackle a solution. It mimics what we see in the workplace and gives students an advantage, and they get to learn about themselves through the process." ✯