ZJUI students win Outstanding Winner Award in Mathematical Contest in Modeling 2019

The ZJU-UIUC Institute team clinched the Outstanding Winner Award and the INFORMS Award for their exceptional performance at the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) 2019.

The MCM 2019 presented six problems for the teams to choose from. Members of the ZJUI team, LIN Hangzheng, TONG Xinhao and YUAN Jinsong competed online in Problem B — Send in the Drones: Developing an Aerial Disaster Relief Response System. The team was one of the 22 outstanding winners and the only recipient of the INFORMS Award.

“We benefit tremendously from the fusion of western and eastern educational philosophies on International Campus,” LIN Zhenghang said, “We are often asked to write in English in class, so we feel much at ease in finishing our paper, thereby able to dedicate more time and energy to modeling and calculating.”

MCM is an international contest for college undergraduates. It challenges teams of students to clarify, analyze, and propose solutions to open-ended problems in various domains, including economics, management, environment, resources, ecology, medicine and security. The contest attracts diverse students and faculty advisors from over 900 institutions around the world. Each team is required to create a model, find a solution, identify evidence and submit a paper within four days.

The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is the largest society in the world for professionals in the field of operations research (OR), management science (MS), and analytics. INFORMS has long recognized the importance of involving undergraduate students and faculty in an unscripted process of mathematical modeling whose problems contain many of the modern elements seen by its membership. The MCM/ICM exemplifies these characteristics. Consequently, INFORMS has been an active supporter of the MCM/ICM since its inception.
INFORMS carefully selects and designates a single Outstanding team from each of the six problems - A, B, C, D, E, F - as an INFORMS Outstanding winning team whose modeling and analyses best exemplify the style and content reflected in its membership's professional practice. Each student receives a letter of congratulations from the current INFORMS President and a complimentary one-year INFORMS student membership. Each associated faculty advisor receives a letter of congratulations and appreciation from the current INFORMS President, along with complimentary one-year access to the full suite of award-winning INFORMS journals.