Faculty Profile

Lee Kong Chian School of Business LKCSB

Yangfang (Helen) Zhou

Full-time Faculty

Associate Professor of Operations Management; Urban Fellow, SMU Urban Institute; MPA Research Fellow

Education

2012	Ph.D., Operations Management, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University.
2009	Master in Industrial Administration, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University.
2007	Master in Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University

Current Position(s) Held

2022 - Now	Associate Professor of Operations Management Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University
2013 - 2021	Assistant Professor of Operations Management Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University

Awards, Recognition and Honors

Best Publication Award in Environment and Sustainability in the INFORMS Section on ENRE (Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment), 2023

Runner-up award for Harvey Greenberg Research Award, INFORMS Computing Society, 2023

Urban Fellow, Singapore Management University, 2023-2024

Finalist for 2023 Best OM paper award in M&SOM

Lee Kong Chian Fellowship, 2022 - 2023

Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2021 - 2022

Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2020 - 2021

2020 Best Publication Award in Environment-Sustainability in the INFORMS Section of ENRE (Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment)

Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2019 - 2020

Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2018 - 2019

Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2017 - 2018

Nominee for The Most Promising Teacher Award, Singapore Management University, 2016

Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2015 - 2016

Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2014 - 2015

Best Research Presentation by a Junior Faculty or a Doctoral Student, Workshop on Analytics for Business, Consumer and Social Insights (BCSI), 2015

Honourable Mention of The 2014 CSAMSE Annual Conference Best Paper Award, 2014

William Larimer Mellon Fellowship, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Septermber 2007 - August 2010

The second prize of Yellow Roadway Corporation Scholarship, Tsinghua University, 2006 - 2006

The second prize of undergraduate thesis of Hubei Province, 2005 - 2005

The first prize of undergraduate thesis, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 2005 - 2005

Excellent Graduate Award, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 2005 - 2005

The Model Student Award, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (20 out of 50,000 students), 2004 - 2004

Research Interests

Domain (sustainability)
- Renewable energy and energy storage operations
- Electrical vehicle adoption and operations
- Agriculture operations
- Food waste and food loss
Methods:
- Stochastic dynamic programming
- Financial engineering price modelling
- Mechanism design
- Exponential cone programming

Selected Journal Articles (Refereed)

"An Exponential Cone Programming Approach for Managing Electric Vehicle Charging", by Chen Li, Long He, Yangfang (Helen) Zhou, 2023 (Accepted in Operations Research)
- Runner-up award for Harvey Greenberg Research Award in the INFORMS Computing Society
- Media mention: Study on Electric Vehicle Charging to be Published (SMU news), 2023

"Smart Charging of Electric Vehicles: An Innovative Business Model for Utility Firms". by Owen Wu, Safak Yucel, Yangfang (Helen) Zhou, 2022. Manufacturing and Service Operations Management 24(5):2481-2499
- 2023 Best Publication Award in Environment-Sustainability in the INFORMS Section of ENRE (Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment)
- Finalist for 2023 Best OM paper award in M&SOM
- Media mention: Smart Charging of Electric Vehicles, Sept 2022 (Podcast, ResearchPod)
- Media mention: Charging smart for profit and benefit, Research@SMU 2022
- Media mention: New Electric Vehicle Charging Business Model Poses Multiple Benefits for Consumers, Utilities and the Environment - INFORMS

"Managing Wind-based Electricity Generation in the Presence of Storage and Transmission Capacity", by Yangfang ZHOU, Alan SCHELLER-WOLF, Nicola SECOMANDI, and Stephen SMITH, 2019. Production and Operations Management 28(4):970-989
- Media mention: SMU video titled "Management of renewable energy"
- Media mention: Asian Scientist magazine article "When the switch flips on electricity prices"
- 2020 Best Publication Award in Environment-Sustainability in the INFORMS Section of ENRE (Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment)

"Crop Planning in Sustainable Agriculture: Dynamic Farmland Allocation in the Presence of Crop Rotation Benefits", by Onur BOYABATLI, Javad NASIRY, and Yangfang ZHOU, 2019 (Articles in advance in Management Science)
- Media mention: SMU news article, From farming to retailing: Here's how math models help

"Electricity Trading and Negative Prices: Storage vs. Disposal", by Yangfang ZHOU, Alan SCHELLER-WOLF, Nicola SECOMANDI, and Stephen SMITH, 2016. Management Science 62(3):880-898
- Former title used: "Is it more Valuable to Store or Destroy Electricity Surpluses?" and "Merchant Management of Electricity Surpluses: Storage vs. Disposal"
- Honorable Mention of the 2014 CSAMSE Annual Conference Best Paper Award

Research Areas

Strategic Priorities

Sustainable Living

Yangfang (Helen) Zhou

Education

Current Position(s) Held

Awards, Recognition and Honors

Research Interests

Selected Journal Articles (Refereed)

Related Links

Research Areas

Strategic Priorities

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