Students have until Feb. 18 to register for the Global Case Competition, a series of presentations in which they will offer solutions to major issues throughout the world.

“Students will have to learn to work together across disciplinary boundaries and physical boundaries,” said Christine Oakley, director of Global Learning.

Registration opened Feb. 3 for the fourth annual competition, which will bring together students of various academic backgrounds to solve current issues of global importance.

Oakley said the event is an opportunity for students to develop teamwork skills, showcase creative solutions and gain global experience without leaving Pullman.

“All cases that we put together can be looked at from a variety of academic lenses,” she said. “We want to look at how the solutions reflect those different things the students will bring.”

Jadrian Wooten, a doctoral candidate in the School of Economic Sciences, said students tend to focus too heavily on isolated issues within their majors.

“In reality there are many factors that are in place,” Wooten said. “And one single viewpoint can’t foresee all the issues.”

Participants were offered a trip to India last year by a donor who wanted to see their solution at work. The trip is scheduled to take place in March and will enable the students to work with Indian businesses and implement their plan in a real-world setting.

“It was pretty humbling as an undergrad, working with brilliant grad students and competing with other teams who are equally if not more talented,” senior economics major Rossetti Celis said.

Upon their return to WSU, Celis and her team will share their experiences to educate peers.

“Listen to what everyone has to say and get to know your team – it makes it less stressful,” Celis said. “Make the most of the opportunity and learn about things that you normally wouldn’t be learning about.”

Registration will close once 20 teams have registered, and on Feb. 18 coordinators will announce the issue to be addressed. Each team will have until March 7 to draft a two-page solution.

Judges, including WSU faculty and members of the Pullman community, will have until March 24 to read and evaluate the cases and choose the top five teams.

The final competition on April 11 will be a public forum in which each team delivers a 10-minute presentation. Winning teams will be awarded scholarships, and their names will be added to a plaque in honor of the competition.

Rossana Villa-Rojas, a doctoral candidate in biological and agricultural engineering, said the competition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that she was grateful to be a part of.

“Visiting important companies and universities and seeing how things work in a different country is a very rare treat I’m excited to enjoy,” Villa-Rojas said.

More information about the Global Case Competition can be found at ip.wsu.edu/global-learning.