Smith Supply Chain Fellows Win Case Competition

A team of undergraduate students representing the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business won first place in a supply chain case competition on Sept. 17, 2017. The event was part of the annual Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) EXPO, a three-day event in Long Beach, Calif.

Winning team members, pictured above from left, include Andrew Keenan, Taylor Judge and Nicholas Giannascoli with Smith School professor Thomas M. Corsi. Overall, 17 Smith School undergraduate students in the Supply Chain Management Fellows Program attended the conference.

Since 2007, the experiential learning program has served more than 200 undergraduate students with financial support from IANA, a leading industry trade association. More than 80 percent of program alumni work in logistics or related fields, while others will resume their careers after finishing various graduate degrees.

“Supply chain management drives every business in the global economy,” says Corsi, co-director of the Smith School’s Supply Chain Management Center and faculty champion of the fellows program. “Whatever direction these alumni go with their careers, they will be in demand.”

Currently the University of Maryland is one of eight institutions receiving scholarship awards from IANA. Over the past 10 years, IANA has awarded more than $1.8 million to supply chain students across North America.

In addition to the annual California trip, IANA scholarships allow eligible Smith School students to attend an annual IANA case competition at the University of North Florida. A team of Smith School students won second place in that event on April 7, 2017.

The Supply Chain Management Fellows also attend campus seminars in College Park, Md., and do site visits to companies such as UPS, Union Pacific and Caterpillar. All activities are funded by IANA and require no student expenditures.