Management engineering students win big at national IISE competition

Management Engineering students recently participated in the 2024 Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IISE) National Conference hosted by Polytechnique Montreal and came away with big wins in major competitions.

Fourth year student Claudia De Fazio won first prize in the technical paper competition. This competition offers students a unique opportunity to showcase their projects, often completed towards the end of their studies. Claudia's paper titled "Towards Sustainable Transportation: An Optimization Model for Electric Aircraft and High-Speed Rail Integration" focused on modelling a possible network of electric planes and high-speed rail using the infrastructure of existing regional airports and rail corridors to increase the connectivity between communities over travel distances of less than 800km. Claudia conducted this work as part of a co-op term as a research assistant. 

A team of four third-year and fourth-year students - Omar Atwa, Achchala Deepan, Omkaar Kamath, and Ewan Simms -  also took home first prize in the case study competition. This competition is built upon the foundations of consulting engineering, an essential discipline for developing innovative solutions to contemporary challenges in our society. 

The IISE organizers had also included a number of other non-technical competitions with the goal of team-building, networking, and fun at the competition. A team of management engineering students came third in the sport competition of Kin-Ball. The team was composed of Dhruv Sharma, Adriel De Vera, Meenakshi Andoorveedu, Joanna Yang, Tejesh Arujuna, Thomas Enns and Alvaro Pranenda

The purpose of the IISE organization is to provide knowledge, training, and networking opportunities that inspire students to become technically and socially competent Management and Systems Engineers. Specifically, the IISE chapter in Management Engineering at the University of Waterloo strives to provide avenues for growth academically, professionally, and socially through unique events and services. The chapter in Management Engineering is advised by Prof. Oliver Schneider. 

Claudia De Fazio, first place in technical paper competition

Omar Atwa, Achchala Deepan, Omkaar Kamath, and Ewan Simms: first place in case study competition

Dhruv Sharma, Adriel De Vera, Meenakshi Andoorveedu, Joanna Yang, Tejesh Arujuna, Thomas Enns and Alvaro Pranenda, third place in sports competition.