Grad Students Place First in Americas, Win Silver Worldwide in Global Supply Chain Competition

A team of graduate students studying supply chain management at the Robert H. Smith School of Business placed first in the Americas region and won silver overall at the 2025 Global Sustainability Supply Chain Student Competition.

The results were announced from a competitive field of 113 international teams representing universities across 24 countries. The UN-endorsed global competition challenges students to develop innovative, sustainable supply chain solutions aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“This recognition reinforces our belief that supply chains can be powerful engines of inclusive and sustainable growth,” said team member Anuj Yadav, MBA, MSSCM Class of ’26. “At Smith, we are learning not just how to optimize systems, but how to design them to create long-term value for businesses, communities, and the environment.”

Also representing Team Earth from Smith are Ravi Narayan Mohanta, MBA ’26; Huiyi Zhou, MS Supply Chain Management ’26; and Alisa Slonaker, MS Supply Chain Management ’26. The team’s advisor is Humberto Coronado, senior lecturer and academic director of the Master of Science in Supply Chain Management.

For the project, the team worked with Chinese logistics provider TWTH. They worked to combine AI-driven demand forecasting with verifiable low-carbon logistics to help enterprises make shipments faster and smarter. The team’s solution — which they named “SuperClusters” — combines market analysis, demand forecasting and AI technology into an integrative platform. Small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can use the platform to compete on a global scale and take advantage of emerging market opportunities in a timely and sustainable way. The goal of the SuperClusters solution is to even the playing field for those businesses while also reducing the environmental impact of international supply chain activities.

Rather than viewing logistics as a reactive service, the team reimagined it as a strategic growth platform. Their model projected measurable carbon reductions through shipment consolidation and route optimization while lowering compliance costs for SMEs through shared certification pathways and standardized export processes.

As a result of their achievement, the team has been invited to attend the FIATA Headquarters Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

Slonaker, a Plus-1 student who’s still finishing up her undergraduate degree, said she’s honored to represent Smith at the awards ceremony.

“This competition was an incredible introduction to the opportunities available to me through Smith’s graduate program,” she said. “I was able to apply the knowledge I’ve learned in the classroom to solve real-world problems and pioneer a more equitable and sustainable supply chain future.”