INFORMS Open Forum

INFORMS Undergraduate O.R. Paper Competition Results

  • 1.  INFORMS Undergraduate O.R. Paper Competition Results

    Posted 11-17-2015 14:36

    Dear all:

    Below are the results of the 2015 INFORMS Undergraduate O.R. Paper Competition. Winners were announced during the Awards Ceremony at the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

    We had a remarkable slate of entries this year, reflecting the strength and diversity of undergraduate O.R. projects, whether applied or theoretical, in the U.S. or abroad, and represent the very best of tomorrow's generation of operations research practitioners. All the finalists did excellent work and will undoubtedly lead with great skill and talent the next generation of operations research practitioners.

    The five finalists who ended the competition with finalist spots are :

    • Beril Burcak, Osman Raug Karaaslan, Ayca Karatape, Alaz Ata Senol, Hakan Senturk and Kaan Yavuz, "Integrated optimization of aircraft utilization and on-time performance", advised by Prof Kemal Goler at Bilkent University 
    • Omar El Housni, "Piecewise static policies for two-stage adjustable robust linear optimization problems under uncertainty", advised by Prof Vineet Goyal at Columbia University
    • Pengyu Qian, "A composite risk measure framework for decision making under uncertainty", advised by Prof Zizhuo Wang at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and Prof Zaiwen Wen at Peking University.
    • Chao Qin, "A faster algorithm for the resource allocation problem with convex cost functions", advised by Prof Cong Shi at the University of Michigan
    • Paige von Achen, "Optimizing community healthcare coverage in remote Liberia", advised by Prof Karen Smilowitz at Northwestern University

    The two honorable mentions are :

    • Andy Zheng, "Robust multi-objective clustering", advised by Prof Omid Nohadani at Northwestern University. 
    • Cagan Urkup, Ezgi Karakas, Fehmi Mert Gurel and Kaan Telciler, "Routing optimization of a drone for agricultural inspections", advised by Prof Sibel Salman at Koc University

    The three first-place winners are :

    • Magdalena Romero, "Optimal resource allocation in breast cancer screening with different risk groups", advised by Prof Qingxia Kong at the Universidad Adolfo Ibanez in Chile who can’t be here today,
    • Massey Cashore, "Multi-Step Bayesian optimization for one-dimensional feasibility determination", advised by Prof Peter Frazier at Cornell
    • Kyle Cunningham, "Alleviating competitive imbalances in NFL schedules: an integer-programming approach", advised by Prof Murat Kur at SUNY Buffalo

    Further, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow committee members for their tireless efforts in evaluating and discussing the many excellent papers submitted to this year's competition: Dr. Matthew Drake, Dr. Pavithra Harsha, Dr. Nelson Uhan and Dr. Anke van Zuylen.

    Dr. Harsha has kindly agreed to serve as the competition chairwoman for 2016. The deadline for submissions is expected to be July 1, 2016. Please check the INFORMS website for more details in the spring.

    Finally, I'd like to thank all the students who submitted a paper to the competition and their advisors for supervising their work. It was a pleasure to read about the many innovative and useful ways today's undergraduate students apply operations research to tackle important problems. The entire 2015 committee wishes them the best in their future endeavors.

    Regards,

    Aurelie Thiele

    ------------------------------
    Aurelie Thiele
    Associate Professor
    Lehigh University
    Bethlehem PA
    ------------------------------