Description: In 2024, 27 disasters in the United States resulted in damages exceeding $1 billion. These disasters included two winter storms, one wildfire event, one drought/heatwave event, one flooding event, six tornado outbreaks, 11 severe weather/hail events and five hurricanes. The costliest of these events was Hurricane Helene, which resulted in 219 deaths and cost $79.6 billion , although the early 2025 wildfires in the Los Angeles, California area threaten to exceed this economic cost. In Canada, insured catastrophic losses totaled C$8.5 billion in 2024, making it the costliest year on record for the country. Outside the United States and Canada, Cyclone Chido killed more than 1,000 people, a heatwave in Bangladesh impacted 33 million people and a drought in Columbia has had a significant impact on the economy there .

Description: Call for essays that provide practical applications of in-depth research papers that will be published in the upcoming edition of the NAAJ.

Description: Significant progress has been made in transforming the actuarial profession but it remains untransformed. Universities have been instrumental in training future actuaries and this article is about how the University of Cape Town has been addressing transformation in the actuarial program. The school system in South Africa has struggled to produce the required quality and quantity of school leavers prepared for higher education. This has led to universities having to develop ways to manage this problem. The article discusses the effectiveness of some of the initiatives introduced at UCT.

Description: This project pertained to the development of anew Actuarial Science Learning Community model, involving four types of students' engagement: academic coursework, residential life, research, and professional development. The model provided students an immersive exposure to Data Science from the Actuarial perspective, which will result in Actuarial students greatly expanding their skill set and future job opportunities, at the intersection of Actuarial Science and Data Science.

Description: An update to the risk management readers on what the JRMS is planning to do over 2023 to serve its membership.

Description: A brief overview of last year's Education & Research Section Council work, accomplishments and challenges from its outgoing chair.

Description: Learn more about the Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program Steering Committee as well as other research committees and volunteer opportunities at the SOA.

Description: The document explores how AI-supported underwriting influences mortality slippage in accelerated underwriting and evaluates real-world applications, risks, and industry impacts.

Description: The article discusses the innovative integration of the SOA Research Challenge into the actuarial curriculum at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). This integration, part of the capstone course "Actuarial Theory and Practices," transforms the educational experience by focusing on hands-on problem-solving and mirroring professional actuarial work. Key topics covered include setting assumptions, understanding external environments, the modeling process, data quality, and risk management.

Description: The article talks through my personal journey of passing actuarial exams during the pandemic. The purpose of the article is to provide readers a different perspective on how to successfully navigate and balance work-study commitments. The article provides 6 tips that helped me overcome exam challenges.