- October 29, 2025
- By Rebecca Moon Ruark
A team of University of Maryland seniors representing the QUEST (Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams) Honors Program 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 major David Oloye, mechanical engineering major Yesha Shukla, and finance and information systems majors 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, loosely modeled after the adrenaline-fueled TV show “The Amazing Race,” had teams from 10 participating schools darting 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 said. “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 a half-hour to develop and deliver their presentation for judging.
The winning team leveraged skills including data analysis and presentation skills honed in QUEST, a three-year honors program for undergraduates studying business, engineering, or science.
For Oloye, working on additional teams in the A. James Clark School of Engineering sharpened his thinking around strategy, systems and countermeasures. “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."