We are proud to once again recognize the exceptional students and faculty selected by the graduating cohorts for recognition. These members of the Rady community are thought leaders and changemakers, and they uplifted those around them during the challenging circumstances of the past year.
The Robert S. Sullivan award, named in honor of the Rady School’s first Dean, recognizes students for a high level of leadership and contributions to the Rady School and larger UC San Diego community. The Dean’s award is given to students who epitomize our school values ofinnovation, impact, collaboration, integrity and risk-taking.
This year, a third student award, the Daniel J. Reed Memorial Prize for Innovation, was created in honor of FlexEvening student Daniel Reed, who passed away during the course of this academic year. Daniel embraced a full life, and he was passionate about technology and innovation. This award recognizes a student or group of students who have demonstrated a commitment to entrepreneurship, technology and innovation.
The student and faculty honorees listed below will be recognized during commencement ceremonies on Sunday, June 13th, 2021 at 10 a.m. Join us for a livestream of commencement here.
“For me, a career in finance represents a way to help clients achieve their long-term investment goals, ensuring that they will be able to sleep soundly at night knowing that their capital will be preserved and grown,” says MFin student Aaron Kharwar.
Kharwar, who earned a B.S. in economics and M.S. in Finance and Private Equity, came to the Rady School to gain experience applying programming to finance and putting finance theory into practice. Post-graduation, Kharwar wants to pursue a career as a financial or investment analyst. “I am particularly motivated by responsible investing as a way of allocating funds to companies that have sustainable work practices, but also achieve high financial returns,” he says.
We talked to Kharwar, an admissions ambassador, about his experience in the program thus far, including experiential learning opportunities, collaboration with his peers, and the faculty who have been instrumental in his education.
About Aaron:
MFin ’21
Hometown: London, UK
B.S. in Economics and Management from King’s College London; M.S. in Finance and Private Equity from The London School of Economics
Previous internship experience in investor relations, investment analysis and insights
What led you to pursue your MFin at the Rady School of Management?
There were many factors that led me to choose the Master of Finance degree at the Rady School of Management. First, the MFin at Rady was designed to be a modern and innovative finance program, meeting the data-driven needs of the industry by equipping students with coveted skills in quantitative finance and data science. Additionally, the program culminates with a unique Capstone project where students will have an invaluable opportunity to work with leading financial firms on a cutting-edge research project. Attending Rady Preview Day also exposed me to the top-notch facilities on campus (including state-of-the-art Bloomberg terminals) as well as the exceptional faculty, who are motivated to innovate their classes with current research. The Rady School has an esteemed reputation in quantitative finance with Nobel Laureate Harry Markowitz.
What skills did you want to build on in coming to Rady?
I was very keen to learn how to apply finance to programming languages such as Python and I can assuredly say that, after two quarters, I have learned how to do that! The Rady MFin curriculum ensures that students have hands-on experience with Python in their core classes as well as a dedicated Collecting and Analyzing Financial Data class taught by Professor Michael Reher. My second core goal was to bridge the gap between finance theory and practice and representing Rady in the CFA Institute Research Challenge with my brilliant MFin classmates was a great opportunity to replicate the work of an equity research analyst. We wrote a research report on a local San Diego BioTech firm, valued the firm, issued an investment recommendation and presented our findings to a panel of CFA charterholders.
Kharwar and his peers compete in the CFA Research Challenge with academic mentor, MFin Executive Director Michael Melvin.
How have faculty made an impact on you so far?
The Rady faculty are at the top of their game in bridging finance theory with practice. In all of my classes, the professors have made a large positive impact by sharing fresh-off-the-press articles from the Financial Times or Wall Street Journal that cogently apply the concepts that we learned in class. We also went through several case studies that enabled us to immediately draw connections with the material and the real world. Professors also emphasize the importance of data-driven methods in Python as this a core skill that the financial industry is seeking. One quote that stayed with me was from Professor Rossen Valkanov in our financial econometrics class: “Liquidity… is like … love. Everybody knows what it is, but it is hard to explain.”
How have you been learning from your peers so far?
A unique offering from the MFin program is that our assignments are predominantly done in teams, which is highly rewarding as teamwork is common practice in the industry. From working with my peers, I have learned that ‘a problem shared is certainly a problem halved’. Through collaboration with my diligent peers, we shared productive ideas that led us to succeed in our assignments.
What are the goals of the finance club? What does your role as president look like?
The Rady Finance Club’s mission is to educate our members and affiliates in current topics in finance, support members in career development, and provide a professional, comfortable, and enjoyable environment to promote growth and support for each other. Upon graduation, we endeavor to inspire and empower members to become ethical and entrepreneurial leaders.
As President, I lead and work with my fellow club officers (across events, marketing and technology) to ensure that we bring the highest-quality events to the Rady School student community. I am particularly excited about our recent partnership with the CFA Society San Diego, that will empower students to succeed in investment management and pursue their CFA charter. My highlight of the Fall quarter was moderating our first virtual MFin Alumni panel and learning from the highly impressive alumni on how to succeed in the industry when we graduate.
What does your involvement as an admissions ambassador look like?
As an admissions ambassador, I enjoy speaking with prospective students and answering any queries that they may have about the MFin program or student life at Rady via email or Zoom call. Once we are back on campus, I also look forward to meeting incoming students in person and helping them make the most of their Rady experience!
What are your goals for after earning your MFin? How is this program preparing you to get there?
My goals after graduating are to break into the industry as a financial or investment analyst. The MFin program, with its deep variety of electives, offers students a fantastic opportunity to take classes from various disciplines (from computational finance methods to valuation in corporate finance). Recent talks at the Brandes Institute/Rady Summit and Rady Innovation in Finance Series have also been excellent to hear from experts in their field on current developments in finance and learn about how their work has been impacted by these developments.
I’m confident that Rady will provide me with an invaluable, diverse skillset that I can put to great use in an entry-level role.
MFin Student Aaron Kharwar On a Sustainable Future in Finance was last modified: May 10th, 2021 by Camille Cannon
The Class of 2020 has demonstrated extraordinary resilience and innovation. We are so proud to celebrate our graduates–albeit virtually–throughout the week. Please join us in congratulating these students and faculty who were selected by students as recipients of our 2020 awards.
The Robert S. Sullivan Award recognizes a student for a high level of leadership and contribution to the Rady School, UC San Diego, or larger community.
The Dean’s Award recognizes a student who epitomizes the philosophy of the Rady School (innovation, impact, collaboration, integrity and risk-taking).
Winners from all programs will be added here as they are announced. Don’t forget to join us for our Virtual Commencement broadcast 9-9:30 a.m. on June 13, 2020!
MASTER OF FINANCE
Student Awards
Dean’s Award
Jia (Jeff) Rui Wen served as the president of the Rady Finance Club and as MFin 2020 cohort rep, and participated and communicated important events and opportunities. Jia encouraged solutions and worked with the Rady faculty and administration to make the student journey better.
Robert S. Sullivan Award
Raven (Di) Deng represented the Rady School at several competitions, including the regional ACG Cup – placing second! He has been active not only in several Rady student organizations, they belonged to the UC San Diego competitive break-dancing club. With that busy schedule, Raven attended many events, representing the Rady School by being prepared and engaged.
Lauren Rowley was recognized by Poets and Quants as one of their 2019 “MBAs to Watch.” She held leadership roles in the Consulting Club, the Women of Rady, and the Rady Student Board. She worked on wide-ranging initiatives from rebuilding the Rady Student Board election process to rewriting the Board constitution and created a legacy that will make the school more equitable and efficient for all programs. She also brought community leaders to campus for training opportunities and meaningful partnerships, using her platform to the benefit of all students.
Robert S. Sullivan Award
Joseph Baini (left) and Samuel Jordi (below) led the Venture Capital and Innovation Club, creating opportunities for students and build their professional network. Last February, under their leadership, a Rady School team was invited and competed in the regional level VCI Competition in Salt Lake City.
Because of their consistent work dedicated to their professional field, we recognize their impact and contributions to the Rady community. Their focused vision for a meaningful personal learning experience is inspirational and shows that you can create the experience you desire.
Coffey Zhang is being recognized for her consistent leadership and initiative throughout the program. As the President of the Data Analytics Club, she collaborated with colleagues, faculty and staff to create learning opportunities. She has made a lasting impact not only at Rady but in the San Diego community – connecting with companies for engagement opportunities for her peers, and becoming a founding board member of the Women in Big Data San Diego chapter.
Robert S. Sullivan Award
Diego Amenabar created a culture of trust and assurance among his colleagues. Serving as cohort rep, Diego demonstrated a willingness to support and serve their constituents, being a voice for concerns and a partner for the Rady administration.
Nizam Khan has been a champion for the MPAc program’s success and growth during its historic first year. He helped institute a Rady chapter of the Beta Alpha Psi organization, which will connect UC San Diego accounting undergraduate and graduate students. Nizam has positively represented Rady through professional engagement, supporting partnerships between the San Diego Accounting community and the Rady School that will benefit many future cohorts. This person has been recognized as a positive role model and enthusiastic leader.
Elizabeth Zhang-Chen is being recognized for her broad engagement and positive impact within the Rady community. Elizabeth was an active member of the Rady Life Sciences Club and used their connections within the local biotech community to arrange company visits for Rady students. She also used her industry expertise to share professional opportunities with Rady students, often making introductions and referrals. She is a member of the Vistage on Campus mentorship program and initiated the first ever VOC alumni reunion. She also participated in not one, but two StartR teams!
Teams of students from the Rady School Master of Finance program placed first and third at the 2020 Chicago Quantitative Alliance Investment Challenge!
From October 2019-March 2020, the students managed a portfolio
with the goal of achieving the best risk-adjusted performance. “As we all know, this has been a very challenging time
for equity investing and our teams did a great job,” said MFin Executive Director
Michael Melvin, who served as the teams’ faculty advisor.
The teams scores were based 80% on risk-adjusted performance
and 20% on a ten-minute video presentation about their investment strategy. The
Rady MFin teams were mentored by CQA member Tom Anichini of Guided Choice.
Rady MFin Students Win First and Third Place in CQA Investment Challenge was last modified: April 28th, 2020 by Rady School
Launched in 2014, the Master of Finance (MFin) program at
Rady School of Management is a relatively new program. But despite its
adolescence, the program and its curriculum has quickly become highly praised
within the industry.
Just last year it was ranked by the Financial Times as one of the top MFin programs in the world; a
huge accomplishment after a mere four years since the program’s conception. It
placed 14th in the U.S. and is expected to rise higher in the future.
The highly-regarded ranking isn’t all that the MFin degree
has to offer. The Rady School MFin program is a STEM-designated, CFA
Institute-affiliated professional degree that delivers rigorous, hands-on
training to prepare graduates to immediately contribute in environments where
quantitative and analytical skills are at a premium.
Students learn leading-edge methods for analyzing big data
for financial decision-making and risk management. The program’s emphasis on
quantitative models and methods ensures that graduates are equipped to develop
innovative solutions to the complex problems facing the financial industry.
“The Master of Finance
program at Rady is designed for the current needs of the finance industry. It
incorporates class work that reflects what’s going on in the industry today and
includes a heavy component of data science, which is presently very important
for financial firms,” says Michael Melvin, the Executive Director of the MFin
program at Rady.
Michael Melvin, Executive Director, Master of Finance, Rady School of Management
As Melvin notes; “It’s
a quant program, so students learn quantitative skills, including financial
econometrics that they can apply throughout their coursework including the final
capstone research project.”
The MFin capstone is a project-based course that allows
students to work with a prestigious firm within the finance industry. Students work
together in teams of four and complete research that demonstrates the application
of skills developed throughout the MFin program.
“Our students work
with a mix of local and global firms. From San Diego to London to Hong Kong,
capstone project stakeholders present students with a particular idea to
research, which may cover a range of financial topics.”
These topics can include anything from portfolio construction,
cryptocurrencies and bitcoin, trading issues, payments, asset management, and risk
management, among many others. What’s more is that students can learn from collaborating
with respected industry professionals.
Examples of capstone companies that students worked with
this year include some of the top financial firms in the world, such as Goldman
Sachs and BlackRock. They also worked with companies that have finance groups
within them, like ViaSat, and a local La Jolla firm, Alphacore.
“Alphacore is a great example of a firm where we had students interning
with them that were so successful in their research that Alphacore executives
were interested in continuing the relationship and building upon what was
started,” recalls Melvin.
Melvin says that “students
might do a project with one firm but then that experience will lead them to
opportunities with other firms as well.” Opportunities for students to
network and showcase their skills often lead to their ultimate goal;
employment.
“I think the MFin
degree is a ticket into the industry. I used to be a Managing Director at
BlackRock and we’re teaching students at Rady the skills that I wanted to hire
for my teams at BlackRock, which were quantitative investing teams.”
The capstone increases employability because the students
gain the skills and the abilities that firms want to hire. Not only that, but
students can differentiate themselves from other job applicants because they’re
able to highlight bespoke research on their resume.
“When capstone teams
are doing very well, which they often do, firms will request resumes from the
teams so that they can interview students, which leads to internships and
permanent jobs.”
For anyone looking to enhance their career within the
finance industry, the MFin program at Rady is a great place to start.
On June 16, 2019, the Rady School of Management
at UC San Diego held commencement ceremonies for 344 students. The commencement
ceremonies celebrated the graduation of the school’s Full-Time, FlexEvening and
FlexWeekend MBA classes, Ph.D. students, and students from the Master of
Finance and Master of Science in Business Analytics classes.
Family,
friends and Rady School supporters joined the graduates for the ceremonies. The
commencement keynote speakers were Julia Brown, a life science industry
executive and Charles Brandes, an investment firm founder and visionary.
“Don’t be
afraid to take a risk and try something new,” said Brown. “Decide what path you
will take then go for it and don’t look back. Achieving a peak gives absolutely
no assurance of staying there. We must earn it every day. What it took to be
successful yesterday may be different than what will be required tomorrow. So
we need you. We need your brain power, your talent, your energy and your
leadership as you embark on your career. We wish you all the best. Whatever you
decide to do, we wish you great success, great happiness and a long and
gratifying career. So now let’s get out there and make things happen.”
Rady School
Dean Robert S. Sullivan presided over the ceremony and emphasized the
importance of remaining connected to the Rady School and its alumni after
graduation.
“So to our graduates on behalf of this your
Rady School community, we look forward to your successes and to your impact,”
Sullivan said. “We look forward to confidently building our bridges and our
support network. So please know that we will be here for you, our alumni,
throughout your professional careers, not just now. If you had an issue five
years or 10 years from now, this is the place to come back to keep the
connections. And the network that you build as friends, they’ll go on forever.”
Students and alumni also took part in the ceremony, with Lauren
Murphy (MBA ’19) and Robert Louis Beyer (MSBA ’19) delivering the student
commencement addresses. Rady School Alumni Association President Bosco Lujan
(MBA ’12) and Andrea Yoder-Clark (MSBA ’17) delivered the alumni addresses.
Retiring Rady School Adjunct Professor Dr. Harry
Markowitz was honored with the Rady School of Management Founders Medal at the
ceremony for his outstanding contributions to the school.
Markowitz is
an esteemed economist, beloved professor and thoughtful philanthropist, His
seminal work, “Portfolio Selection,” launched a distinguished career lauded
with economics’ most prestigious accolades, including the Nobel Prize in
Economics, the John von Neumann Theory Prize, and the Wharton-Jacobs Levy
Prize. His lifetime of teaching ultimately brought him to the Rady School where
he joined the founding faculty as an adjunct professor of finance and
accounting in 2006 and continued to teach his groundbreaking theory to Rady
students until his retirement this year.
In addition to
his critical contributions to the establishment and quality of the Rady School,
Markowitz has also dedicated himself to securing the future of the Rady School
and its students through his timeless generosity. In 2017, Markowitz pledged a
$4 million gift to the Rady School of Management to create fellowships for
students. He placed his Nobel Medal at the UC San Diego Library in 2018.
The Rady School of Managment Celebrates Graduation 2019 was last modified: June 18th, 2019 by Melinda Battenberg
Jasmine Tsui (MFin ’19) graduated from the University of Oregon with bachelor’s degree in Accounting. After receiving her degree, she worked as a tax assistant associate for PwC in Hong Kong. After a year in this position, Tsui obtained an assurance associate position at EY Hong Kong for two years, where she was promoted to Senior Assurance Associate. She also worked as a general accountant in the United States where she realized her fascination with numbers, programming and finance. Her passion drove her to pursue a Master of Finance degree at the Rady School of Management.
1) Why did you choose to pursue a Master of Finance?
I chose to pursue a Master of Finance because as an accountant I realized that I could learn a lot about a company by analyzing its financial statements. A Master of Finance will allow me to better make financial decisions in my career.
2) Why did you choose the Rady School?
The program gives students industry experience in its courses, culminating in a real-life capstone project. A strong focus on quantitative curriculum sets Rady apart from other programs.
3) What do you feel makes Rady unique? How do you benefit from these aspects?
The faculty puts students first and truly cares about their success. They provide us access to a variety of career-related resources and get us ready for the workforce. I will be ready to join the workforce with remarkable soft skills once I finished the program.
4) What classes are you looking forward to taking this year?
I am looking forward to taking Data Science for Finance using Python. The class will enhance my data analysis technique by introducing powerful tools, and allow me to make accurate predictions by studying the data patterns.
5) How has your perspective on your career or your life changed since you came to Rady?
The Rady School of Management arranged many events for students to connect with alumni. It gave me an opportunity to build up my network and explore different financial positions, which gave me valuable insight into the industry
6) What are your goals after graduation?
Applying the terrific data analysis and communication skills earned at Rady in the workplace. Also, I would like to be a resource to prospective students.
7) What advice do you have for prospective students?
Reach out to Rady faculty and alumni when you need help or advice. They are always willing to answer questions and help out.
People of Rady: Jasmine Tsui was last modified: December 5th, 2018 by Jasmine Tsui
Jasmine Tsui (MFin ’19) graduated from the University of Oregon with bachelor’s degree in Accounting. After receiving her degree, she worked as a tax assistant associate for PwC in Hong Kong. After a year in this position, Tsui obtained an assurance associate position at EY Hong Kong for two years, where she was promoted to Senior Assurance Associate. She also worked as a general accountant in the United States where she realized her fascination with numbers, programming and finance. Her passion drove her to pursue a Master of Finance degree at the Rady School of Management.