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Congratulations to these 2020 Rady Student and Faculty Award Winners!

written by Rady School

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.

Faculty Awards

Most Valuable Professor

Rossen Valkanov

Excellence in Teaching

William Mullins

FULL-TIME MBA


Student Awards

Dean’s Award

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.

Faculty Awards

Most Valuable Professor

Excellence in Teaching

Hyoduk Shin

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN BUSINESS ANALYTICS

Dean’s Award

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.

Faculty Awards

Most Valuable Professor

Excellence in Teaching

Vincent R. Nijs

MASTER OF PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANCY

Dean’s Award

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.

Faculty Awards

Most Valuable Professor

James T. Deiotte

Excellence in Teaching

Wade Lindenberger

FlexWeekend and FlexEvening MBA

Robert S. Sullivan Award

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!

Faculty Awards

Most Valuable Professor

Hyoduk Shin

(selected by FlexEvening MBA)

Excellence in Teaching

Charles Sprenger

(selected by FlexEvening MBA)

Most Valuable Professor

Michael Finney

(selected by FlexWeekend MBA)

Excellence in Teaching

Krisztina Büti

(selected by FlexWeekend MBA)

June 8, 2020 0 comment
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Rady MFin Students Win First and Third Place in CQA Investment Challenge
Master of FinanceRady School

Rady MFin Students Win First and Third Place in CQA Investment Challenge

written by Rady School

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.  

April 28, 2020 0 comment
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FacultyMaster of FinanceRady SchoolUncategorized

The MFin capstone: A ticket into the finance industry

written by Danica Brindley

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.

For more information about Rady’s MFin program, please visit https://rady.ucsd.edu/programs/masters-programs/master-of-finance/

July 24, 2019 0 comment
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The Rady School of Managment Celebrates Graduation 2019
AlumniFacultyMaster of FinanceMBAMSBARady School

The Rady School of Managment Celebrates Graduation 2019

written by Melinda Battenberg

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.

June 18, 2019 0 comment
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Master of FinanceStudents

People of Rady: Jasmine Tsui

written 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.

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.

 

 

November 15, 2018 0 comment
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