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Student Paper Competition

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OR Programs in Canada

Student Paper Competition

Description

Each year the Canadian Operational Research Society conducts a student paper competition to recognize the contribution of a paper either directly to the field of operational research through the development of methodology or to another field through the application of operational research. The competition serves to showcase the high quality of OR education in Canada as well as the excellence of the new generation of operational researchers. Prizes are awarded in two categories: Undergraduate and Open.

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First Prize, Open Category

"Joint Optimization of Sampling and Control of Partially Observable Failing Systems"
Michael Jong Kim, University of Toronto

Stochastic control problems that arise in reliability and maintenance optimization typically assume that information used for decision-making is obtained according to a pre-determined sampling schedule. In many real applications however, there is a high sampling cost associated with collecting such data. It is therefore of equal importance to determine when information should be collected as it is to decide how this information should be utilized for maintenance decision-making. This type of joint optimization has been a long-standing problem in the operations research and maintenance optimization literature, and very few results regarding the structure of the optimal sampling and maintenance policy have been published. In this paper, we formulate and analyze the joint optimization of sampling and maintenance decision-making in the partially observable Markov decision process framework. We prove the optimality of a policy that is characterized by three critical thresholds, which have practical interpretation and give new insight into the value of condition-based maintenance programs in life-cycle asset management. Illustrative numerical comparisons are provided which show substantial cost savings over existing suboptimal policies.

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

"The TA assignment problem with open tutorials"
Issac He, Mark Strange, Hans Aisake, Simon Fraser University

We consider the problem of scheduling teaching assistants (TAs) to an open tutorial lab. Open tutorials provide an integrated framework of o ering tutorials for multiple courses. Hence, assignment of teaching assistants raises several optimization challenges. We formulate the TA assignment problem as a minimum-cost network flow model with additional restrictions to distribute the tutorial workload among several TAs. Factors such as TA availability, course schedules, and expected student turnout are taken into account. The model takes advantage of certain jobs that do not require specific time scheduling. The output of the model yields a solution that can reach the most students possible. Furthermore, since these are generally small problems, solutions can be found in a timely manner using a general purpose integer programming solver.

Application Process

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Requirements

The applicant must be enrolled as a full-time student in a Canadian institution, in an undergraduate, masters, or Phd program during the school year 2012 to 2013. Canadians who are studying outside of Canada are also elligible. Applicants in undergraduate programs are elligible to apply in both categories: Open and Undergraduate.

To be elligible for First Prize or Honourable Mention, selected articles must be presented at the 2013 annual conference. This rule applies to both categories: Open and Undergraduate. Finalists will be contacted at the latest by April 26, 2013.

Instructions

Fill out the competition entry form at Application Form

The application deadline for the Open Category is March 15, 2013.

The application deadline for the Undergraduate Category is April 5, 2013.

For the Undergraduate Category, candidates must submit their intent to participate by sending an email with the title and abstract to the Chair of the Undergraduate Category. The deadline to indicate your intent to participate is March 20, 2013.

The Chairs of the competition are:

Open Category

Mehmet Begen
Richard Ivey School of Business
Western University
London, ON N6A 3K7
E-mail: mbegen@ivey.uwo.ca

Undergraduate Category

Anjali Awasthi
Concordia University
Montreal, QC H3G 2W1
E-mail: awasthi@ciise.concordia.ca

The entry includes:

• Abstract of 200 words or less. Author's name, address, phone number, and e-mail address.
• Make sure the abstract clearly highlights the motivation, contribution, and potential impact of the paper.
• Academic institution and supervisor's name, if applicable.
• Indication of whether the author is planning to attend the conference regardless of the outcome
• Note that papers selected as Finalists must be presented at the conference in order to further be considered for First Prize or Honourable Mention.
• Indication of whether the paper is submitted to a journal.
• A PDF copy of the paper:
• No longer than 35 pages (with minimum 1-inch margins, maximum 34 lines per page and minimum font size of Times 11) including all figures, tables, appendices, and references.
• An e-mail from the supervisor indicating that the participant is the first author of the paper should be sent to the Competition Chair.

Selection Criteria

• Contribution of the paper either directly to the field of Operational Research through the development of methodology or to another field through the application of Operational Research.
• Originality.
• Writing style, clarity, organization and conciseness of the paper.

Awards

Open Category: First Prize $500, Honorable Mention $100

Undergraduate: First Prize $200, Honorable Mention $50

All papers selected as Finalists receive a certificate.

If an undergraduate wins the open competition, no undergraduate prize will be awarded. In the case of close competition, papers not winning an award may receive honourable mention.

Finalists selected for the undergraduate category will be eligible to apply for partial funding to attend the CORS annual conference. The Education Chair will contact finalists with details.

Previous Recipients

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2012

First Prize, Open Category

Michael Jong Kim, University of Toronto, "Joint Optimization of Sampling and Control of Partially Observable Failing Systems"

Honourable Mention

Velibor Misic, University of Toronto, "Adaptive and robust radiation therapy optimization for lung cancer"

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Issac He, Mark Strange, Hans Aisake, Simon Fraser University, "The TA assignment problem with open tutorials"

Honourable Mentions

Sam Maggs, Michelle Leung, Svyatoslav Glazyrin, Simon Fraser University, "Intersection Optimization Analysis: Cambie & W. Broadway, Vancouver"

2011

First Prize, Open Category

Jonathan Y. Li, University of Toronto, “Portfolio Selection under Model Uncertainty: A Penalized Moment-Based Optimization Approach”

Honourable Mention

Mahmood Ebadian, University of British Columbia, “The development and application of a new simulation model for multi-agricultural biomass”

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Shuang E, Derek Hewitt, Jenny Morrow, Scott Van Bolhuis, University of Alberta, “Staffing Requirements Based on Stochastic Arrivals and Infinite Server Model (M/M/s)”

2010

First Prize, Open Category

Ramon Alanis, School of Business, University of Alberta, “A Markov Chain Model for the Performance of an EMS System with Repositioning”

Honourable Mentions

Bissan Ghaddar, Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, “New Relaxations for Binary Quadratic Problems Using Second-Order Cone Programming”

Yang Li, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University, “A New Class of Neighborhood Path-Following Interior Point Algorithms for Semidefinite Optimization with O(√nlog(Tr(X0S0)/ε)) Iteration Complexity”

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Erin Hrycyschyn, Felicia Ng, Brent Ouwerkerk, Jimmie Tom, Sean Tomilin, University of Alberta, “Community Facility Services: Drive Time and Market Share Analysis”

2009

First Prize, Open Category

Sachin Jayaswal, Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, “Product Differentiation and Operations Strategy in a Competitive Market”

Honourable Mentions

Mahmood Ebadian, Department of Wood Science, University of British Columbia, “Fuzzy Hierarchical Production Planning”

Mehmet A. Begen, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, “Appointment Scheduling with Discrete Random Durations”

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Chen Chen, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, “Robust Portfolio Selection for Index Tracking”

Honourable Mentions

Maxine Cunningham, John Schmidt, and Jonathon Braamms, School of Business, University of Alberta, “Production Facility Optimization”

Mike Clay, Yvan Fortier, and Chris Samuel, School of Business, University of Alberta, “Disabled Adult Transit Service –Optimal Shift Design and Demand”

2008

First Prize, Open Category

Chirag Surti, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University “Supply Chain Coordination Through Pricing and Bundling”

Honourable Mentions

Sachin Jayaswal, Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, “Product Differentiation & Operations Strategy in a Capacitated Environment”

Joe Naoum-Sawaya, Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, “A Nested Benders Decomposition Approach for Optimal W-CDMA Telecommunication Network Planning”

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Not awarded

Honourable Mentions

Angela Kercher, Arthur Lee, Shawn Halvorson, School of Business, University of Alberta, “ETS Customer Service Standards”

Sterling Todd Keys, Sean Lelacheur, Greg Ninowsky, School of Business, University of Alberta, “Optimization of Transit Services – Through Class Scheduling”

2007

First Prize, Open Category

Fredik Odegaard, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, “Optimal Release of Inventory Using Online Auctions: The Two Item Case”

Honourable Mentions

Anne Mercier, CRT, Universite de Montreal, "A Theoretical Comparison of Feasibility Cuts for the Integrated Aircraft Routing and Crew Pairing Problem”

Navneet Vidyarthi, Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, “Response Time Reduction in Make-to-Order and Assemble-to-Order Supply Chain Design”

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Allison Bouthillier, Amanda Meleshko, Peter Wares, University of Alberta School of Business, “Capital Health: Forecasting Demand Beyond Population Growth of MRI / CT / Ultrasound”

Honourable Mention

Kieran Ryan, Stewart Wilson, University of Alberta School of Business, “Simple Solutions: Inbound Truck Scheduling”

2006

First Prize, Open Category

Timothy C Y Chan, Operations Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “A Robust Approach to IMRT Optimization”

Honourable Mentions

Catherine Gingras, HEC Montréal, « L’optimisation du transport dans l’industrie forestière“

Yong Yue Li, University of Alberta School of Business, “Incorporating Employee Satisfaction in Workforce Scheduling and Rostering”

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

David Mann, Anh Nguyen, Sean O’Donnell, University of Alberta School of Business, “Fountain Tire: British Columbia Retreading Plant Location”

Honourable Mention

Megan Inglis, Jen Tyrkalo, Jillene Wiebe, Mark Zschocke, University of Alberta School of Business, “Vendor Performance Evaluation and Cart & Warehouse Reorder Point Analysis”.

2005

First Prize, Open Category

Jonathan Patrick, University of British Columbia, "Improving Resource Utilization for Diagnostic Services Through Flexible Inpatient Scheduling"

Honourable Mentions

Pooja Pandey, University of New Brunswick (Saint John), "A simplex Algorithm For Piecewise-Linear Fractional Programming Problems"

Manish Verma, Memorial University, "ATactical Planning Model for the Railroad Transportation of Mixed Freight"

First Prize, Undergraduate Category (Shared)

Chelsea Baron, Jennifer Der, Lukas Deeg, Mark Zschocke, University of Alberta, "Dynamic Simulation for Rail and Terminal Services Used in Sulphur Distribution"
John LaRusic, University of New Brunswick (Fredericton), "A Heuristic for Solving the Bottleneck Traveling Salesman Problem"

2004

First Prize, Open Category

Oleksandr Romanko (M.Sc., McMaster, supervisor, Tamas Terlaky) “Sensitivity Analysis in Convex Quadratic Optimization: Simultaneous Perturbation of the Objective and Right-Hand-Side Vectors.”

Honourable Mentions

Zhihui Xue, “New solvable cases of the traveling salesman problem on permuted Monge matrices.”

Rémy Monfet, “La localisation de centres de tri de colis chez Postes Canada.”

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Alden Christianson, Wilson Mok, Gabriel Wong, Kelly O’Byrne, “ TELUS Operator Services Estimation Tool Project.”

Honourable Mention

Daniel Bowker, Jared Poplawski, Scott Knibbs, (University of Alberta) “Standards for Prostate Treatment in Alberta.”

2003

First Prize, Open Category

Matt Thompson (Ph.D., Western Ontario, supervisors: Matt Davison, Henning Rasmussen): Real Options Valuation and Optimal Operation of Electrical Power Plants in Competitive Markets.

Honourable Mentions

Fatma Gzara (Ph.D., McGill, supervisor: Jean-Louis Goffin): Exact solution of the centralized network design problem on directed graphs.

Ernest Hongtu Wu (M.Sc, UBC, supervisor: Marty Puterman): Aggregate Logistics Optimization for a Large Beverage Company

Xuan Zhao (Ph.D., UBC, supervisor: Derek Atkins): Strategic Revenue Management Under Price and Seat Inventory Competition

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Ayako Watanabe (McMaster): Basis Identification Procedure

Honourable Mention

Adam Crowe, Andrea Denney, David Fath, Elaine Siu, Linda Tarshahani (U of Alberta): Improving Forecast Accuracy for Purolator Courier

2002

First Prize, Open Category

A Continuous-Time Strategic Capacity Planning Model for Multi-Product, Multi-Machine Manufacturing Systems under Demand Uncertainties (W.T. Huh, R.O. Roundy, Cornell U)

Honourable Mentions

"A Compact Model and Tight Bounds for a Combined Location/Routing Problem", M. Albareda-Sambola, J.A. Diaz, E. Fernandez, CRT

"Designing Distribution Networks: Formulations and Solution Heuristic", S. Lapierre, A.B. Ruiz, P. Soriano, CRT

"A Penalty-Evaporation Heuristic in a Decomposition Method for the Maximum Clique Problem", P. St-Louis, J.A. Ferland, B. Gendron, University of Montreal

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Supporting Wood Supply Chain Decisions with Simulation for a Mill in Northern BC (J.A.Myers, U New Brunswick)

Honourable Mentions

"Simulating a Job Shop: Metal Fabricators and Welding Ltd.", A. Benjamin, M. Noel, R. D'Ilio, U of Alberta

"Resource Simulation at Air Canada", K. Chong, M. Grewal, J. Loo, University of Calgary

"Inventory Management and Reorder Point Analysis at the Edmonton Component Rebuild Center of Finning", K. Bessette, J. Litchfield, J. Johnson, M. Riskin, University of Alberta

2001

First Prize, Open Category

Samir Elhedhli, Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, "The Integration of Interior-Point Cutting Plane Methods within Branch-and-Price Algorithms"

Honourable Mentions

Nathalie Perrier, "Le problème du postier chinois mixte avec pénalités pour les virages"

Kyle Biswanger, "Developing an Airline Network Inventory Control Policy Using Markov Decision Processes and Simulation"

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Gregory Paradis, "A Forest Landscape Generator", Gregory Paradis,Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick. Supervisor: Evelyn Richards

2000

First Prize, Open Category

Brian Denton, "Scheduling Start Times for Jobs With Uncertain Durations"

Honourable Mentions

Aaron Luntala Nsakanda, "Cellular Manufacturing System Design: A Price-directed Decomposition and Genetic Algorithm Approach"

Ernest Urbanovich, "Identifying High-Risk Claims within the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia's Claim Inventory by using Logistic Regression Modelling"

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Joey Cherdarchuk, Shahnoor Lalani, Kimberley Mik & Thaddeus Sim, University of Alberta, "Cost-effective and Reliable Grinding Schedules for Inland Cement"

Honourable Mention

Pascal Forget, "Équilibrage d'une chaîne d'assemblage par Recherche Tabou"

1999

Honourable Mention, Open Category

Jason H. Goto: "A Markov Decision Process Model for Airline Meal Provisioning"

Jinliang Cheng, George Steiner and Paul Stephenson “A fast Algorithm to Minimize Makespan for the Two-Machine Flow-Shop Problem with Release Dates”

First Prize Ungergraduate Category

Chris Goodwin, Joanne Kok and Steve Kabanuk , University of Alberta, "TAU Utilities: Speciality Crew Location"

Honourable Mention

Laura Morrison, Les Stelmach and Mark Gannon, "Locating a Meat Processing Plant in the Prairies

1998

First Prize, Open Category

Moren Lévesque and Kenneth R. MacCrimmon, "On the interaction of time and money invested in new ventures", University of British Columbia

Honourable Mention

John T. Blake and Michael W. Carter, " A goal programming approach to strategic resource allocation in acute care hospitals", University of Toronto

First Prize, Undergraduate Category

Jay Baraniecki, Chris Neuman, and Laura Morrison, "Delivering results in the pizza industry", University of Alberta.

1997

Steve Chamberland, Mathematics and Industrial Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, "Topological Design of Two Level Telecommunication Networks with Modular Switches".

1996

Bob Dawson, Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, "A mixed-integer, non-linear program for oil field production planning"

1995

Hélène Dufourd, Départment de mathématiques et génie industriel, École Polytechnique de Montréal, « Application de la méthode de recherche avec tabous au tracé d'une ligne de métro »

David Sparling, School of Business, McMaster University, "Balancing Just-In-Time Production Units: The N U-Line Balancing Problem."

1994

Keith A. Willoughby, University of Calgary. "Bus garage location for the Vancouver Regional Transit System: A mixed integer programming analysis."

1987

Mike MacDonald and Bernie P. Lee, Technical University of Nova Scotia, "Bulk Milk Distribution in Cape Breton."