Academic News & Opportunities

Announcing MOPTA Competition Winners 2023! 🎉The 15th AIMMS-MOPTA Optimization Modeling Competition was held last month. The competition, which AIMMS has sponsored for several years now, is itself a part of the larger MOPTA conference hosted by Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.We're proud to announce the winners of the MOPTA Modeling Competition for this year: 🥇Winner: Team “OptiCoffee" Institution: Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia Members: Ariel Rojas and Juan Betancourt Advisor: Daniel Yamín 🥈2nd Place: Team "Vultures" Institution: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands Members: Fergus Hathorn and Iker Olarra Maldonado Advisor: Alessandro Zocca 🥉3rd Place: Team "Clean Air Avengers" Institution: University of Bern, Switzerland Members: Nicklas Klein Advisor: Norbert Trautmann Congratulations, Team OptiCoffee! ☕There were 13 teams entered, where 2 of them used AIMMS on their application, and it so happens that the first place winner, Team OptiCoffee was one of these

15th AIMMS-MOPTA Optimization Modeling Competition Competition problem summary This year’s problem focuses on Electric Vehicle charging:Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming increasingly popular due to their environmental and economic benefits. While most electric vehicle charging occurs at home, there is an increasing trend of commercial electric vehicle charging stations being built across the country. The construction of these charging stations can help electric vehicle owners maximize their vehicle’s capabilities and decrease range anxiety for potential buyers. Hence, it can make electric vehicles more accessible and encourage more people to make the switch to electric vehicles.For the full problem description, see the MOPTA competition webpage. Important Dates Please register as soon as you start working on the problemMOPTA Competition Solutions due May 31, 2023, 23:59 Eastern Daylight Time  MOPTA Conference will take place on 16 - 18 August 2023 in Bethlehem, PA (USA)  Competition

We always save space for interns at AIMMS. In fact, it’s built into our employee headcount! We believe that it’s a great win-win scenario in which we bring in fresh talent to do whatever it is they do best, and we can share our knowledge and experience to help them transition to their future careers.And, in some cases, we win a new AIMMSian! (Fun fact: Gertjan de Lange, our Chief Executive AIMMSian, had his first role at AIMMS as an intern!)The most recent cohort presented their projects during our annual AIMMS Connect Week (a social energizer event for AIMMS employees), and I took the opportunity to chat with them about their internship experience. In this interview we discussed impressions about working at AIMMS, learning new technical skills, surprises, and takeaways.BTW: If you are looking for an internship, keep your eyes on our Careers page, and follow us on LinkedIn! Even if we don’t have a current opening, you can send an open application (send your resume as an attachment).  F

Prof. Willem-Jan van Hoeve on the Beauty of Constraint Programming, and Teaching with the Whole Story in Mind  Willem-Jan van Hoeve has had quite a broad career. With a background in the fields of mathematical optimization, computer science, and artificial intelligence, he has worked on the theory and framework of the way we solve problems. Along the way, he has developed a particular interest in constraint programming as an approach. Further to that, he has applied all this to make an impact in business and industry. His love for bridging the gap from theory to practice has led him to acting as a consultant and practitioner to tackle business problems large and small. And, as a professor, he has enjoyed passing on these values to students. In the classroom, he's always believed in taking a hands-on approach, giving students the chance to put their skills to use in real-world problems. Now, as Associate Dean of Education at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, he is

 Looking back and looking forward!The Academic Community teams is already busy planning for Campus 2023! But it’s also nice to take a look at what we did last year...In July 2022, we hosted the inaugural AIMMS Campus event at the Student Hotel (now called Social Hub), in Amsterdam. The purpose of this event was to bring world-renowned academics and professionals together to learn, collaborate and get trained on multiple topics related to Operations Research, Supply Chain, Business and Analytics.The event was a major success, seeing a total of 30 students, 12 professors, and young professionals representing 5 continents! The week was filled with interactive lectures, case studies from industry experts, hackathons, roundtable discussions and many other fun activities like canal walks and sports.The feedback at the end of the week was extremely positive, motivating us to ensure that the 2023 AIMMS Campus event is even bigger and better! What participants and lecturers say"It was really ni

We are pleased to announce Team Bern Unicorns from the University of Bern as the winners of the 14th AIMMS-MOPTA Optimization Modeling Competition. Team Bern Unicorns' solution, report and modeling effort was selected as the most comprehensive among the three finalists at the MOPTA conference banquet, which took place at Lehigh University, Bethlehem on July 26, 2022. AIMMS is excited to continue supporting MOPTA.  This year’s problem statement, designed by Dr. Karmel S. Shehadeh (Lehigh University) and Dr. Luis Zuluaga (Lehigh University), explores surgery scheduling in flexible operating rooms under uncertainty. The participants were tasked to develop an efficient and implementable optimization model with a user interface of finding the best solutions. All the three finalists did an excellent job in developing various approaches to arrive at their recommendations.  Team Bern Unicorns includes Nicklas Klein, Robin Hauenstein and Nicola Travaglini, advised by Norbert Trautmann. The team

Hi there! 👋The Campus 2022 group is a private space on the Community, just for presenters and attendees.This is the place for questions, discussions, and other materials throughout the event, and after. (It’s also a great way to give us feedback.) It also gives us a chance to get to know each other a little as we prepare to welcome you to Amsterdam! For now, check in here in the comments and let us know a little about yourself…Where are you from? 🌍 What is your current role? 👷 What are you looking forward to at this event? 🤔 What is your favorite thing about summer? 🌴

Hi folks - to get an idea of what people’s expectations are, would you answer this quick question?  

The 14th Annual AIMMS-MOPTA Competition is coming!CompetitionAs part of the Modeling and Optimization: Theory and Applications (MOPTA) conference hosted by Lehigh University, this year’s challenge is to optimize scheduling for hospital operating rooms (OR).Considering the massive overload on hospitals worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, this problem hits close to home for hospital management professionals. More than ever, they look to improve OR utilization, surgical care, and quality, while minimizing operational costs.In this problem scenario, you’ll solve an elective surgery planning (ESP) problem in flexible ORs, where same-day emergency cases are also accommodated. Construct a plan to assign cases from a waiting list to available OR surgery blocks with the surgery start times assigned. Your team’s goal is to develop an efficient scheduling method that managers can use in practice.You’ll need to consider:costs related to performing or delaying elective surgeries costs related t

An Interview with Prof. Anne Lange of the University of LuxembourgIt is not every day that we have the opportunity to talk with passionate and talented researchers in a certain field, so it was a pleasure to interview Professor Anne Lange. Professor Lange is an associate professor in Logistics and Supply Chain Management at the University of Luxembourg.Her research interests involve operation research (OR), transportation, network analysis, and supply chain finance. She is fascinated by real-life applications, often working in cooperation with companies, such as DB Schenker, DHL, and Cargolux. She received her doctoral degree from the University of Cologne, and was a postdoc at TU Eindhoven. Professor Lange works with AIMMS on a regular basis, mainly applying network analysis tools for educational purposes.In this interview, we discuss a little about her research experiences, the recent trends in the OR and optimization field, and how AIMMS improved her lectures in network analysis.Can

We are now offering the AIMMS Network Design applications to academic users!This offering allows professors to use the AIMMS Network Design applications to teach their students how to solve strategic supply chain design problems.It enables students to quickly model complex supply chains and solve a multitude of real-life, practical questions through scenario analysis and visualizations.And, for academic purposes, it’s completely free of charge!The Offer includes -A personalized cloud environment where the Network Design apps are hosted together with the entire suite of Network Design applications                                   Network Design E-learning for key university user(s) and all students to train and certify them in the use of the app 1 hour problem design/additional training session with key user(s) if needed Case studies, presentations, seminars and other requests for students if needed Reach out to us for more information on getting started with AIMMS Network Design for a