An Amazing Race: Terps Win Supply Chain Management Competition

An Amazing Race: Terps Win Supply Chain Management Competition

A team of Terps representing the QUEST (Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams) Honors Program at UMD raced to the top to win the 11th Annual FreeMarkets Race to the Case Supply Chain Management Case Competition hosted by the University of Pittsburgh earlier this month. Civil and environmental engineering senior David Oloye, mechanical engineering senior Yesha Shukla, and finance and information systems seniors Marvi Shroff and Meilin Yuan split the $3,000 first prize. A second team from UMD placed fourth overall.

The three-round business case competition is loosely modeled after the adrenaline-fueled TV show “The Amazing Race.” This year, teams from 10 participating schools raced between buildings on the hilly campus to submit their solutions to the supply chain problems of a mock manufacturing company. “With supply chain, you’re dealing with so much data,” Shukla says. “It’s not just about product price, but it’s about producing a quality product that appeals to customers. That’s the real-world aspect."

Teams of four—two engineering and two business students—tackled issues of parts sourcing, sub-assembly, product delivery, and more. In the final, speed round the three top teams had just a half hour to develop and deliver their presentation for judging. “For our QUEST projects, we have time to figure out the best way to present,” Shukla says of the three-year honors program for undergraduates studying business, engineering, or science. “Thirty minutes is intense!”

The winning team leveraged their QUEST experiences, including data analysis and presentation skills honed in a multidisciplinary environment. Having worked as a team in their first QUEST course, they knew how to capitalize on each other’s strengths. The finance majors focused on crunching numbers and the engineering majors focused on strategy. The team preferenced quality over speed. That is, until the crucial final round, when they pulled together their winning presentation under the wire.

For the Clark School students, engineering coursework and related extracurricular activities gave them an edge, they say. For Oloye, working on engineering teams has honed his thinking around strategy, systems, and countermeasures. “You have to develop a backup plan,” he says. Serving as a Clark School Ambassador, as president of UMD’s chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and as secretary for Chi Epsilon Civil Engineering Honor Society, he has honed his professional competencies. “Public speaking, project management, marketing, membership, sponsorship, and budgeting—these experiences have been very helpful to building my skills for competition.”

As for advice for future teams from UMD, Oloye says, “communicate well, maintain a level of confidence, stay humble—and bring good running shoes."

October 28, 2025