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Faculty Profile

Yangfang (Helen) Zhou's photo

Yangfang (Helen) Zhou

Full-time Faculty

Associate Professor of Operations Management; Urban Fellow (Urban Systems) MPA Research Fellow

Lee Kong Chian School of Business LKCSB

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 

  • SMU MPA Research Fellow, 2025
  • Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2024 - 2025  
  • SMU MPA Research Fellow, 2024
  • Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2023 - 2024 
  • 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, 2024-present
  • Finalist for 2023 Best OM paper award in M&SOM
  • Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2022 - 2023 
  • Lee Kong Chian Fellowship, 2022
  • 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
  • Research assistantship, Carnegie Mellon University, 2010-2012
  • Department Nominee to the INFORMS Future Academician Colloquium, Nov 2011
  • William Larimer Mellon Fellowship, Tepper School of Business, 2007-2010
  • The second prize of Yellow Roadway Corporation Scholarship, Tsinghua University (Top 3%), Oct 2006
  • Research assistantship, Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, 2005-2007
  • The second prize of undergraduate thesis of Hubei Province (Top 0.1%), Jul 2005
  • The first prize of undergraduate thesis, HUST, Jun 2005
  • Excellent Graduate Award, HUST, Jun 2005
  • The Model Student Award, HUST (20 out of 50,000 students) (Top 004%), Oct 2003
  • The first-class scholarship of HUST (Top 5%), 2002-2004
  • Excellent league leader, HUST (Top 3%), Dec 2002
  • The first-class scholarship of PeiXinXing, Department of Mechanical Engineering, HUST, Sept 2002

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) 

  • "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 titles 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 Columbia University China Business Initiative / CSAMSE (Chinese Scholars Association for Management Science and Engineering) Annual Conference Best Paper Award
    - Best Research Presentation by a Junior Faculty or a Doctoral Student, Workshop on Analytics for Business, Consumer and Social Insights (BCSI)
    - Media mention: SMU podcast titled "The downside of renewable energy"
    - Media mention: Asian Scientist magazine article "When the switch flips on electricity prices"

Business Case Studies 

  1. Rwanda Electric Motors: Carbon Credit Monetisation. (2024). SMU-24-0025. By Yangfang Helen Zhou and Lakshmi Appasamy.
    https://cmp-shop.smu.edu.sg/products/rwanda-electric-motors-carbon-credit-monetisation-copy?variant=42309601394730
    https://store.hbr.org/product/rwanda-electric-motors-carbon-credit-monetisation/148SMU
    a. As far as is known, this is the first case study on carbon credits.
    b. Very detailed teaching notes with accompanying Excel sheet for instructors.

Related Links

My Personal Webpage - https://sites.google.com/site/yfzhou05/

68085370
Curriculum Vitae
Google Scholar

Research Areas and Areas of Expertise

Strategic Priorities

Highlights
2
Publications
6
H-Index (All Time)
664
Citations (All Time)
Yangfang (Helen) Zhou is an award-winning scholar in sustainable operations management, recognized for her pioneering research on renewable energy, electric vehicles, and agriculture operations, with significant impact on both theory and practice.

Combines rigorous quantitative modeling with real-world relevance, advancing sustainable solutions in energy, mobility, and agriculture; recognized for methodological innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and high-impact publications; recipient of multiple best paper and teaching awards; research frequently featured in international media and policy discussions.

Focused research areas include Optimization and management of renewable energy systems (wind, storage, transmission); smart charging and business models for electric vehicles; sustainable agriculture and crop planning; food loss and waste reduction; advanced stochastic and mathematical modeling for operational decision-making.
Areas of Expertise
Sustainable operations managementrenewable energy and energy storage operationselectric vehicle adoption and charging operationsagriculture operationsfood waste and food lossstochastic dynamic programmingasset price modelingmechanism designmathematical programming.
This highlights are AI-generated content using the faculty's CV.

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 

  • SMU MPA Research Fellow, 2025
  • Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2024 - 2025  
  • SMU MPA Research Fellow, 2024
  • Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2023 - 2024 
  • 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, 2024-present
  • Finalist for 2023 Best OM paper award in M&SOM
  • Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean's Teaching Honor List, 2022 - 2023 
  • Lee Kong Chian Fellowship, 2022
  • 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
  • Research assistantship, Carnegie Mellon University, 2010-2012
  • Department Nominee to the INFORMS Future Academician Colloquium, Nov 2011
  • William Larimer Mellon Fellowship, Tepper School of Business, 2007-2010
  • The second prize of Yellow Roadway Corporation Scholarship, Tsinghua University (Top 3%), Oct 2006
  • Research assistantship, Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, 2005-2007
  • The second prize of undergraduate thesis of Hubei Province (Top 0.1%), Jul 2005
  • The first prize of undergraduate thesis, HUST, Jun 2005
  • Excellent Graduate Award, HUST, Jun 2005
  • The Model Student Award, HUST (20 out of 50,000 students) (Top 004%), Oct 2003
  • The first-class scholarship of HUST (Top 5%), 2002-2004
  • Excellent league leader, HUST (Top 3%), Dec 2002
  • The first-class scholarship of PeiXinXing, Department of Mechanical Engineering, HUST, Sept 2002

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) 

  • "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 titles 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 Columbia University China Business Initiative / CSAMSE (Chinese Scholars Association for Management Science and Engineering) Annual Conference Best Paper Award
    - Best Research Presentation by a Junior Faculty or a Doctoral Student, Workshop on Analytics for Business, Consumer and Social Insights (BCSI)
    - Media mention: SMU podcast titled "The downside of renewable energy"
    - Media mention: Asian Scientist magazine article "When the switch flips on electricity prices"

Business Case Studies 

  1. Rwanda Electric Motors: Carbon Credit Monetisation. (2024). SMU-24-0025. By Yangfang Helen Zhou and Lakshmi Appasamy.
    https://cmp-shop.smu.edu.sg/products/rwanda-electric-motors-carbon-credit-monetisation-copy?variant=42309601394730
    https://store.hbr.org/product/rwanda-electric-motors-carbon-credit-monetisation/148SMU
    a. As far as is known, this is the first case study on carbon credits.
    b. Very detailed teaching notes with accompanying Excel sheet for instructors.