The PG&E Energy Analytics Challenge

The award, sponsored by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), and co-organized with the IISE - Energy Systems Division (ESD) and the IMFORMS Quality, Statistics and Reliability (QSR) Section, recognizes individuals and teams 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 2025 IISE Annual Conference & Expo in Atlanta, co-organized with PG&E.

In addition:

  1. The winner will present a lightning talk (5-minutes) about their final winning solution at the Energy Systems Town Hall Meeting.
  2. All finalists will have the opportunity to present their work at the 2025 INFORMS Annual Conference within a QSR special session.

For a full description of the 2025 challenge, please click below.

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/i9dsTee8EZ5EWMAHA on or before January 22, 2025, in order to be officially entered into the competition.
  • The participating teams will receive the dataset via e-mail by January 24, 2025, 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 an online form before March 24, 2025.

Important Dates (Deadlines)

  • Registration starts: December 23, 2024 (Link: https://forms.gle/i9dsTee8EZ5EWMAHA)
  • Registration closed: January 22, 2025 
  • Competition kick-off: January 24, 2025
  • Final submission deadline: March 24, 2025
  • Results announced: April 10, 2025

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 2025 IISE Annual Conference in Atlanta. 
  • 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 2025 IISE Annual Conference in Atlanta.
  • The first-place winner and the runners-up will be recognized on the Energy Systems website and newsletter.
  • The finalists will also be recognized at the QSR Townhall meeting at the 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting.

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
  • Alva Svoboda, PG&E
  • Jim Galanis, PG&E

2025 Winners

1st Place
Catherine Wang, Ziying Ye, & Yue Jiang
Duke University

2nd Place
Agostino Capponi, Millend Roy, Vijay Modi, Vladimir Pyltsov & Yinbo Hu
Columbia University

3rd Place
Yushen Dong, Zekai Fan, and Shixiang (Woody) Zhu
University of Michigan, Carnegie Melon University

Past Winners

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