Claudia De Fazio, a recent Management Engineering graduate, has brought home a major win for the University of Waterloo. She secured second place in the highly competitive Undergraduate Technical Paper competition at the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) annual conference.

Competing against the best and brightest from around the globe, De Fazio’s groundbreaking research on sustainable transportation captured the attention of the judges. Her paper, “Towards Sustainable Transportation: An Optimization Model for Electric Aircraft and High-Speed Rail Integration,” explored innovative ways to connect communities through a network of electric planes and high-speed trains. This ambitious project, developed during her co-op term under the mentorship of Dr. Mehrdad Pirnia, demonstrates De Fazio’s exceptional talent and dedication to finding solutions to pressing global challenges.

This remarkable achievement follows her first-place win at the national IISE conference, hosted by Polytechnique Montreal. De Fazio’s consistent success is a testament to her exceptional abilities and the strong support system provided by the University of Waterloo’s IISE chapter, led by Dr. Oliver Schneider.

The IISE conference offers a platform for students to showcase their research, network with industry professionals, and gain invaluable insights into the field of Management and Systems Engineering. De Fazio’s accomplishment highlights the University of Waterloo’s commitment to fostering innovation and leadership among its students.