RAS 2011 Problem Solving Competition
Winners
- First Prize ($2500 and Plaque) Team Koppa - Leonardo Lozano, Jaime E. Gonzalez And Andres L. Medaglia Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia
- Second Prize ($1500 + Plaque) Team OR at UNIMI - Fabio Colombo, Roberto Cordone, Marco Trubian, Universita degli Studi di Milano, Italia
- Third Prize ($1500 and Plaque) Team NCKU - I-Lin Wang, Hung-Yi Lee, and Yu-Ting Liang, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
Honorable Mention (Plaque) - Team RAIL-OPT Jian Gang Jin from National University of Singapore and Jun Zhao from Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu , China
All Reports can be downloaded below.
AllReportsFrom-RAS-2011_Problem_Competition.pdf
Finalists
The judging panel has given their verdict. The three finalists presenting (and competing) at Charlotte are the following teams (in alphabetical order):
Congratulations!
Special Mention:
RAIL-OPT
The judging panel praised work from team RAIL-OPT and has awarded “special mention”. They will receive certificate at the INFORMS annual meeting.
Congratulations!
Click here for eligibility criteria, here for FAQ updated regularly.
Train Design Optimization
Important Dates
June 15 - Last date to register
August 15 - Last date to submit a clarification question
September 1 - Final written problem solution submitted
October 1 - Finalists selected by judging panel
November 13 - Finalist Presentation and winner announced
Registration
Teams of up to 3 members can participate. Every team must register. To register, please send following information to RASProblemSolvingCompetition@gmail.com
Team Name –
For each team member, provide the following:
Member Name, Email, Organization, Position
New to Railroad (Y/N)
New to Operations Research (Y/N)
Brief statement describing what motivated you to participate.
You will receive an email confirming your team’s successful registration and eligibility.
Prizes and Sponsors
- First Prize: $2500
- Second Prize: $1500
- Third Prize: $1000
Each team will also receive a certificate.
Thanks to our sponsors for support:
- BNSF Railway Company
- CSX Transportation
- Gurobi Optimization
- Norfolk Southern Corp.
- Union Pacific Railroad
Questions and Answers
If you have any questions about the competition problem, submit your question to RASProblemSolvingCompetition@gmail.com. In fairness to all participants, RAS will publish a Q&A on website. All participants will receive Q&A document through email as well. If there are any more questions, similar process will be repeated. No questions will be entertained after August 15, 2011.
Submissions
E-mail all files described to RASProblemSolvingCompetition@gmail.com specifying your team’s name in the e-mail’s subject. Attach only three files: (i) the report, (ii) the spreadsheet with the solution and (iii) a zip file (.zip) containing all supporting files. The name of the file for the report and the spreadsheet must match the group’s name
Judging Criteria
All participating teams must submit the following by the due date.
- A report not exceeding 10 pages (including cover page), normal margins, double spacing, font size of 10. The report must include title page describing the team members, their affiliations, clean and concise description of problem formulation, solution method, and implementation details (Software/Hardware) and results.
- Problem solution in the RAS spreadsheet (Problem.xls). Make sure you provide the solution in the prescribed format.
- Computer program/model.
The judging panel will select up to three finalists based on the following criteria:
- Solution Quality
- Solution Time
- Quality of report
- Novelty and elegance of the formulation and solution approach
- Scalability
The finalists will make a presentation at the Informs Annual Meeting in Charlotte. Aside from the previous factors, the Judging Panel will take into consideration the clarity of the presentation to make a final decision about the first, second and third places for the competition. Finally, being among the finalists and presenting at the Annual Meeting does not guarantee first/second or third place.
Winners
Announcing RAS 2011 Problem Solving Competition
Finalists
The judging panel has given their verdict. The three finalists presenting (and competing) at Charlotte are the following teams (in alphabetical order):
Congratulations!
Special Mention:
RAIL-OPT
The judging panel praised work from team RAIL-OPT and has awarded “special mention”. They will receive certificate at the INFORMS annual meeting.
Congratulations!
2011 Organizing Committee
Homarjun Agrahari (BNSF Railway)
Juan Morales (BNSF Railway)
Kamalesh Somani (CSX Corporation)
Shankara Kuppa (Union Pacific Railroad)
Carl VanDyke (Oliver Wyman)
Erick Wikum (IBM)
Vinay Mendiratta (Norfolk Southern Corporation)
Yanfeng Ouyang (University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign)
The organizing committee would like to thank following individuals for their support and effort in problem ownership.
Clark Cheng (Norfolk Southern Corporation)
Jagadish Jampani (CSX Transporation)
Krishna Jha (Innovative Scheduling Inc.)