The IISE ESD/QCRE/PG&E Energy Analytics Challenge

The award, sponsored by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), and co-organized with the Energy Systems (ES), Quality Control & Reliability Engineering (QCRE) divisions of IISE, recognizes IISE members who excel in designing an analytics-based solution to a practical energy systems’ challenge. The winner and up to two runners-up will be recognized with certificates and cash prizes, and will present their solutions at a special session at the 2024 IISE Annual Conference & Expo in Montreal, co-organized with PG&E. In addition, the winner will also present a lightning talk (5-minutes) about their final winning solution at the Energy Systems Town Hall Meeting. Click on the button below for a full description of the 2024 challenge.

Full Description

Eligibility Requirements

  • Individuals or teams (up to four individuals) can participate in the challenge.
  • At least one team member must be an IISE member
  • The winner and runners-up will be asked to join the ES Division for official recognition (joining ESD is free if you are an IISE member).

Application/Submission Guidelines

  • Individuals or teams are asked to register on the following link:  https://forms.gle/UzacMJ5r7sFu7JLB6 on or before January 12th, 2024,in order to be officially entered into the competition.
  • The participating teams will receive the dataset via e-mail by January 12th, 2024, which marks the competition’s kick-off, along with specific instructions on the solution submission format (codes + output report).
  • All teams need to submit their final solutions electronically via e-mail to Dr. Mahan Mansouri on or before February 29th, 2024.

Recognition

  • The first-place winner will be recognized with a monetary prize of $1,200 provided by PG&E. The prize, along with a framed certificate, will be presented at the Energy Systems Townhall Meeting at the 2024 IISE Annual Conference in Montreal.
  • Up to two runners-up will be recognized with monetary prizes of $500 and $300, respectively, as well as certificates at the Energy Systems Townhall Meeting at the 2024 IISE Annual Conference in Montreal.
  • The first-place winner and the runners-up will be recognized on the Energy Systems website and newsletter.

Important Dates

  • Registration starts: December 18th, 2023 (Link: https://forms.gle/G4vekT6MgNcSsKhg8)
  • Registration closed: January 12th, 2024.
  • Competition kick-off: January 12th, 2024.
  • Final submission deadline: February 29th, 2024.
  • Results announced: March 8th, 2024.

Award Committee

Mahan Mansouri, PG&E, IISE Energy Systems Division (competition chair)
Murat Yildirim, Wayne State University, IISE Energy Systems Division
Aziz Ezzat, Rutgers University, IISE Energy Systems Division
Xiaolei Fang, NC State University, IISE Quality Control & Reliability Engineering Division
Alva Svoboda, PG&E
Jim Galanis, PG&E
William Cheng, PG&E
Mark Tiemens, PG&E

2024 Winners

1st Place
Salih Salihoglu, Afshin Asadi, Ramin Moghaddass, and Ibrahim Ahmed
University of Miami

2nd Place
Shivakumar Suresh, Rahul Makarand Kulhalli, and Natarajan Gautam
Syracuse University

3rd Place
Enrico Laoh and Boris Oskolkov
Oklahoma State University