University of North Texas Wins IANA Competition

A student team fielded by the University of North Texas (UNT) won the Intermodal Association of North America’s (IANA) third annual Intermodal Challenge, earning national recognition for their university through IANA’s growing young professionals development program. The first place award was presented to UNT’s Curtis Pogue, Sarah McLaughlin and Chris Turner at the Intermodal Expo in Houston, Texas. Undergraduate business schools from the Universities of North Texas, Maryland and North Florida (IANA Scholarship Award recipients) as well as Auburn University competed, presenting their research, insight and recommendations on a “hot” intermodal industry issue. A panel of experts judged the teams’ research papers and presentations and selected the winning school.

“IANA’s annual academic competition is an integral part of the Association’s Scholarship Program which continues to be an effective tool in attracting and educating the next generation of intermodal leaders,” said Joni Casey, President and CEO of IANA. Since the inception of its Scholarship Program in 2007, IANA has awarded over $1,000,000 to more than 200 deserving students and a growing number of freight-centric university transportation programs. These grants enable schools like the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business to fund its Supply Chain Fellows program and the University of Denver’s Intermodal Transportation nstitute to offer tuition assistance for its executive master’s degree in Intermodalism.

“Our students appreciated the opportunity to compete in the IANA Student Challenge and to attend the Intermodal Expo,” said Dr. Brian Sauser, Associate Professor in Marketing and Logistics and faculty advisor for the UNT team. “Thanks to IANA’s scholarship award to the UNT’s Center for Logistics Education and Research, our University is able to further the business and management development skills of promising young professionals. Our student team was exceptional and I am proud of each of them.”