The results of the 22nd "Huawei Cup" China Graduate Mathematical Modeling Contest have been officially announced recently. Two teams from the Faculty of Data Science at the City University of Macau stood out amidst fierce competition. Demonstrating solid mathematical modeling skills and tenacious perseverance, they achieved remarkable success, winning a National Second Prize and a National Third Prize. The team consisting of three doctoral students, Yaoqiang Du (Team Leader), Yuli Chen, and Zhenxing Huang, won the National Second Prize with their entry titled Low-Altitude Turbulence Monitoring and Optimal Route Planning. Another team of three master's students, Xuanke Zhang (Team Leader), Ziyang Zhu, and Jiamin Jin, earned the National Third Prize with their entry titled Research on Intelligent Fault Diagnosis for High-Speed Train Bearings. Faculty advisors Professor Tianqing Zhu, Associate Professor Wenjian Liu, and Assistant Professor Qi Zhang commented: "Throughout the contest, the students displayed impressive perseverance, overcoming challenges, showcasing a strong spirit of rigorous research, excellent teamwork, and the ability to solve practical problems. We hope the students will continue their efforts, maintain their passion for academic research, and keep exploring and innovating to achieve more accomplishments in the future. We also extend our gratitude to the University and the Faculty for their steadfast support, providing a solid platform for the students' growth and research practice."

Held from September 21 to 25, 2025, this edition of the contest attracted 24,371 teams from 631 graduate training institutions across mainland China, special administrative regions, and international participants. The results were determined after a rigorous two-stage evaluation process (online and centralized review) conducted over nearly two months by the entire expert committee and specially invited experts, totaling 944 individuals. As the largest and most wide-ranging thematic event under the "China Graduate Innovation and Practice Series Competitions," it is guided by the Department of Degree Management and Graduate Education of the Ministry of Education, organized by the China Academic Degrees & Graduate Education Society and the China Association for Science and Technology Youth Science Center. Hosted this year by China University of Mining and Technology and sponsored by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., this contest is an academic competition focused on mathematical modeling application research for current graduate students. It serves as a major platform for enhancing their ability to establish mathematical models and use internet information technology to solve practical problems, while fostering a spirit of scientific innovation and teamwork awareness.

It is worth noting that during the contest period, Macau was hit directly by the Super Typhoon "Wigasa." Under the extreme conditions of the highest-level "No. 10 typhoon signal" and a red storm surge warning issued by the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau, along with a complete suspension of public transportation across Macau, the participating students overcame significant difficulties such as the inability to meet offline and limited internet communication. Through online collaboration, they completed the intensive mathematical modeling tasks and ultimately submitted high-quality papers, earning honors. This achievement not only affirms the academic capabilities of CityU Macau students but also highly praises their dedication to research and spirit of teamwork amidst adversity. CityU Macau will continue to support graduate students' participation in high-level disciplinary competitions, using competitions to promote learning, and cultivating more high-end data science talents with the ability to solve complex real-world problems.

Thoughts from the Winning Teams:

Team Members (Doctoral students, Faculty of Data Science, CityU Macau): Zhenxing Huang, Yaoqiang Du (Team Leader), Yuli Chen

• Yaoqiang Du: I was deeply moved by this competition experience. I had participated in several contests during my master's and undergraduate studies years ago. Now starting anew, each year's Mathematical Modeling Contest addresses cutting-edge topics. It strongly emphasizes solving actual, complex societal problems, and the contest questions involve numerous professional fields and interdisciplinary knowledge, greatly expanding our scope of knowledge and testing our ability to learn and apply new knowledge immediately. As the team leader organizing our participation this time, with the careful early guidance from our advisors, our team demonstrated tenacious fighting spirit, excellent teamwork, and outstanding data analysis and model-building capabilities during the competition. Over the four intense days, we went through the entire process of topic selection discussions, typhoon disruptions, modeling and programming, and late-night writing. Ultimately, winning a national award lived up to expectations. I sincerely thank the University, the Faculty, and our advisors for their full support, as well as my teammates for their dedicated cooperation. The technical skills and spirit learned from this contest are worthy of being carried forward on our future academic and research paths, just like the contest's motto states: Participate once, benefit for a lifetime.​

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• Yuli Chen: The excellent result in this Mathematical Modeling Contest is inseparable from the advisors' careful early guidance and the teamwork during the competition. With profound professional knowledge, my teammates meticulously dissected complex problems and progressed step by step. From developing a turbulence intensity calculation model based on wind profile radar data, to estimating three-dimensional spatial turbulence intensity by integrating multi-source detection data, and further researching low-altitude route turbulence warning and route planning, we finally developed a low-altitude flight turbulence monitoring and warning model with practical application value, along with relevant analytical insights. Here, I sincerely thank my two teammates for their efforts and dedication, and also thank our advisors for their strong support of the team. This competition made me deeply realize that while exploring new algorithms, it is even more crucial to focus on their practical application in real-world scenarios. Only by closely integrating theory and practice can we truly achieve innovation and breakthroughs.

• Wong Chan Seng: I am deeply honored to receive the National Second Prize in this contest. I sincerely thank the University, the Faculty, and our advisors for their full support and encouragement. This competition experience was extremely special, as Macau was directly struck by the Super Typhoon "Wigasa" during this period. Unable to meet offline normally, our team maintained close communication, racing against time to derive formulas and write the paper, ultimately overcoming the numerous difficulties brought by the extreme weather. This "competition in the storm" not only allowed me to learn many new things but also tempered my willpower. This experience gave me a profound understanding that the path of scientific research is full of challenges, and only calmness and perseverance can overcome difficulties. This honor will have a significant positive impact, inspiring me to continue forging ahead on the path of data science.

• Xuanke Zhang: It is a great honor for us to receive the Third Prize in this "Huawei Cup" Mathematical Modeling Contest. During the four-day competition, we collaborated and consulted with teammates, designed technical solutions, tackled challenges one by one from data processing to model building, broadening our horizons. In the process of solving the contest problem and completing the paper, we gained a deeper understanding of how research technology is translated into real-world application scenarios. We not only applied statistical analysis, optimization methods, and programming tools learned in daily studies but also combined theoretical models with practical requirements by reviewing literature and engineering cases. We contemplated "how to truly apply the model to real scenarios, ensuring the final solution meets expectations in terms of accuracy, stability, and interpretability." This process gave us practical experience of the complete journey of research technology moving from paper formulas to engineering applications and accumulated considerable practical experience in thinking about problems from an engineering and systematic perspective. We also extend special thanks to the Faculty and our advisors for the guidance and support provided before the competition, which ultimately helped us find our rhythm, maintain our direction, and successfully achieve our competition goals.
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