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A spotlight on Rady’s MSBA capstone
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A spotlight on Rady’s MSBA capstone

written by Danica Brindley

In today’s business environment, being skilled in analytics is becoming more and more of an advantage across many industries and corporations. Playing it safe with a basic understanding of business practices might be satisfactory, but successful businesses use data analytics techniques and models to make better decisions and gain a competitive edge.

At Rady School of Management, we equip our students enrolled in the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program with the skills needed to thrive in these types of data-rich business environments.

Our MSBA program offers rigorous, hands-on training that prepares students how to identify business opportunities, generate business insights and create business solutions, all through data and analytics. It’s unique in the sense that it delivers a curriculum at the convergence of data science and business.

As Raymond Pettit, Executive Director of Rady’s MSBA program, notes, “Rady is one of the few business schools that has a strong and collaborative relationship with our data science colleagues on campus. Many other schools that offer MSBA degrees are often stand-alone, however Rady offers cross-discipline opportunities through our close relationship with the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute and the Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego and our world-class faculty in all these areas.”

As part of the MSBA curriculum, students must participate in a capstone project, which consists of solving a well-defined business problem for a real life company. Each student pursues this experience as part of a team and must complete both written and oral exams to pass the course, as well as a complete report for the sponsor company.

With more companies seeking skilled professionals who can work effectively in teams to answer key operational and strategic business questions using data and analytics, the capstone project is crucial to position students for future career success. 

“The capstone project isn’t just mandatory for students, it’s beneficial for them because it gives students the opportunity to practice what they’ve learned throughout the course and apply it to a real-world setting with an industry leading company,” says Pettit.

Every year, the capstone stakeholders include Rady School industry partners and big name companies such as Petco, Hewlett Packard, Becton Dickinson, Cisco, DIRECTavenue, Mirum, and Mazda among many others. These companies present students with an opportunity to obtain real industry experience that aids them in their job search and beyond.

It’s also not just beneficial for students, but it’s also valuable for the participating companies. Pettit added, “Many companies that our students work with see the capstone as a way to create a talent pipeline, so they can keep these students on as interns or they can hire students for permanent jobs afterwards.”

Some participating companies have been involved with the MSBA capstone project for several years, meaning they can build off projects from the previous years. Not only that, but the capstone is growing tremendously with more than 25 companies submitting proposals to take part just this year alone.

For this academic year, Pettit and the rest of the MSBA faculty were overall very pleased with the capstone results noting that; “The quality of students emerged in the amazing work and reports the teams presented to the sponsoring firms. This group of students will be making sizable contributions as their careers continue to grow and evolve.”

It’s an exciting time to enroll in an MSBA program at Rady as there are many advancements on the horizon.

“We’re going to expand the program and we can envision this expansion benefitting a larger number of companies based on the success we’ve seen so far,” says Pettit. “There is scope for the current capstone to develop into a joint-capstone in partnership with other disciplines on campus including data science undergraduates and our Master of Professional Accountancy program. To do this on the business side and work together would be huge and a new type of collaboration that nobody else is doing.”

If your organization is interested in participating in the MSBA capstone project, please contact Raymond Pettit at rcpettit@ucsd.edu or if you would like more information about Rady’s MSBA program, visit https://rady.ucsd.edu/programs/masters-programs/ms-in-business-analytics/

July 2, 2019 0 comment
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Immersion Trip to Cambodia
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Immersion Trip to Cambodia

written by Rady School

Eye opening, exuberant, unique, were all words Lauren Murphy and Andrew Engram used to describe their recent Rady School immersion trip to Cambodia. Engram and Murphy, along with a team of six students from the Rady School were chosen to support the Cambodian company, Hydro-logic. Hydro-logic is working to help provide water filters to those who have little to no access to clean water.

During this immersion trip, they got a chance to put everything they have learned at the Rady School into action. The students used their business acumen to find out what challenges Hydro-logic is facing, how the company can increase revenue and how to help the company discover the best plan of action possible.

Getting There

Andrew Engram

The trip was extensive, but enjoyable. Getting to travel together as a team, made us closer friends and we enjoyed our time together. We (six of us and Professor Michael Finney), took a shuttle up to LAX, then we took a plane from Los Angeles to Taiwan, which was 14 hours long. After another plane ride and a bus ride later, we finally arrived. When we arrived, our main source of transportation was a tuk-tuk, which is a small, three wheeled, motorized vehicle. Getting there took 19 hours total, and when we arrived, we were in immediate culture shock. We realized how much of a developing country this really was, and how much of the country was living in poverty. We were also very excited to begin working on our project as a team, and to do everything we could to help improve the water shortage problem with Hydro-logic.

Why were you interested in the Cambodia Immersion Trip?

Murphy

I thought it was a great opportunity to learn more about consulting. Also, knowing how beneficial Professor Finney’s courses have been gave me that extra motivation because he is a great teacher and I wanted to learn from him more on the trip.

Engram

It was an opportunity to travel internationally, and get in the weeds with different cultures by working in an international environment. This trip was different because it wasn’t so much having an outline of things to get done, but a learning experience to put into action. It was great to understand how rural Cambodians live and find out about their access to drinking water. The client in Cambodia was trying to improve the livelihood by improving the amount of people who have access to clean water. Professor Finney was also an amazing counselor and guide for the trip. This is by far the best experience I’ve had at Rady. Every second was a learning experience and research. I was grateful to be able to use all I’ve learned and put those thoughts into action, rather than reading a textbook.

What did the work consist of?

Murphy

Our tasks included reporting to the social enterprise, Hydro-logic. We learned about their needs and built a relationship with their team. We also got to go into the field and bring interpreters to chat with rural Cambodians who were getting the water piped directly to their homes. About 40 percent of the country gets piped water, and Hydro-logic sells water filters for those who don’t have easy access to clean water. One of Hydro-logic’s goals is to bring social impact, but also increase revenue. We were able to help them do that.

Engram

Once we understood what we needed to do, we met with the Chief Financial Officer, marketing team and private water operators. We also got to meet with rural customers, how they cleaned and obtained their water, and what they did to drink it.

Did the trip meet your expectations?

Murphy

The trip exceeded my expectations, though I didn’t know what to expect. The quality of engagement and work we were able to do, as well as our exposure to a beautiful international culture and building great relationships, made the trip a huge highlight of my time at the Rady School.

Engram

Yes. Getting positive feedback from the client was wonderful. Seeing the client believe in what we were helping them understand made me feel like all my hard work at the Rady School was paying off. It was good knowing the MBA program can make an impact and have a lot of value. We both gained confidence and were grateful for the courses we have taken.

Did the trip change your perspective of doing business in Cambodia?

Murphy

Yes. This trip inspired me to want to work more in an international, complex environment. I grew a lot professionally and personally.

Engram

It was such an immersive learning experience and everything I see is now through a filter of what was learned in Cambodia. I hadn’t worked in a country with an emerging market. It was eye-opening to see people need things we take for granted on a daily basis. It was also an opportunity to make a difference in the world.

What lasting impressions did the culture reveal to you?

Murphy

We explored Siem Reap, a city in northern Cambodia. It was full of aesthetic temples including Angkor Wat. The details, art and decorations were beautiful and breathtaking. Seeing the beauty of Cambodia and its historical city structures inhabited by people, opened our minds and gave us greater context to our work. It helped with our project to take a couple days to rest and process our thoughts and expanded our creativity in greater ways.

The Food

Murphy

The food was interesting as there was food from all over Asia in one country. Some of the peculiar foods included bugs, frogs and ants. There was a lot of Thai food, as well as a twist on a kind of noodles and stir fry. Their delicacies, which included tarantulas and scorpions, were very different from America’s.

Any Last Words?

Engram

Thank you to Rady Moxie who provided the funds for the trip and, had a stipend for expenses. Thank you to the Center for Social Innovation and Impact for the grant and Professor Finney for taking the time to do this. We want to be an example of what is possible and we think the Rady School should do more of these trips.

Conclusion

Murphy

While we were in Cambodia, the team, with the help of Professor Finney, was able to help solve revenue challenges, recommend a manual washing machine, improve a system to collect rainwater and analyze how the company could best increase their current product awareness and online presence. Hyro-logic even let Professor Finney know afterwards how impressed the company was with the team and the amount of knowledge they gained from the students. The students would recommend this trip to anyone who can go. They said it was more than another school project, it was a truly life-changing process they will never forget.

April 17, 2019 0 comment
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Rady’s First Ever StartUp Career Day
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Rady’s First Ever StartUp Career Day

written by Rady School

Career Fair Day – A day full of new opportunities, insightful conversations, and potential job offers on the horizon. Here at the Rady School of Management, there have been dozens of doors open for students at career fairs; from internships, to long-term jobs for the graduate students who have participated in Rady’s career fairs.

Each career fair typically consists of employers from corporate companies that have 250 employees or more. This one, however, consisted of not only large corporate companies but also smaller startups. This was an exciting, unique event for Rady because it is the first career day to ever have startups verses only corporations.

The Rady School of Management not only champions, but raises up entrepreneurs, so having startups present was an encouraging factor for the students who attended the career fair. Some of the startups that came to the career fair included founders from Rady School of Management such as LabFellows.

Some of the startup companies who attended were:

  • Leadcrunch – B2B Sales and Marketing
  • Sendlane – An intelligence-driven email automation service
  • LabFellows – An integrated lab management platform
  • Offer1
  • GoSite – A web platform for businesses
  • Launch Factory – A creative co working space

The list of new companies who attended were:

  • Booz Allen Hamilton – Strategy, technology, and engineering
  • AT&T – Communications, media, entertainment, and technology
  • Tealium —  A universal data hub

Some of the other companies that were present included, Trust&will, Artevist and Prudential.

Here at Rady, we are happy to host career fairs and have found them to be very successful for students looking for job leads and internships.

April 12, 2019 0 comment
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Rady Venture Capitalists Put to the Test in Global Competition

written by Hallie Jacobs

Rady School of Management students compete in a number of pitch competitions, presenting their startup companies to panels of entrepreneurial experts with the hopes of securing funding for their venture. But a recent competition had Rady students on the other side of the table, serving as venture capitalists looking to invest in the next big thing.

The Venture Capital Investment Competition challenges business school students with evaluating startup companies and determining their feasibility, scalability and profitability. Teams are given a pitch deck to review prior to the competition, and are tasked with completing their due diligence, including evaluating the market potential, business model and funds raised to date. On the day of the competition, companies pitch to the panel, who are judged on their ability to assemble a team of experts and on how they evaluate the companies.

Inspired by a desire to learn more about the world of investing, Andrew Engram (MBA ’19) created the Venture Capital Club to prepare for the competition and create a network of venture capitalist-hopefuls at the Rady School.

 “We’ve covered the concepts related to venture capitalists in our courses here at Rady, but a better way to learn about a concept is to apply it to real-world situations,” he said.

The team – composed of Engram, Ehsan Amozegar, Joseph Baini, Sairam Chitneni, Adam Stallings and Jerry Skefos — was the first-ever contingency from Rady to compete in the Venture Capital Investment Competition.

With help from Rady School entrepreneurial experts Kimberley King and Lada Rasochova, the team devised a strategy on how to approach pitch sessions from the other side of the table.

“Kim and Lada were instrumental to our success,” Skefos said. “They came to our practice sessions and gave us insight on how we can improve and how to ask more effective questions. This was extremely helpful, because we were able to get a better understanding of how to set up market term sheets.”

Assuming the role

The team traveled to the University of Southern California to compete against five leading California MBA programs. They were tasked with assigning each member of the team with a role that would be represented in a typical venture capitalist firm, so each member assumed a persona for the day – a biotechnology expert, a lawyer, an angel investor and more.

“Our team was dubbed Elm Capital, and our task was to develop fund metrics and a fund profile,” Engram said. “We had to show the entrepreneur how we could bring value to them by investing in them and by our connections.”

The company Elm Capital evaluated was Voluware, a cloud-based workflow optimization and automation solution for administrative healthcare transactions. Using this knowledge, the team adjusted their strategy to include new personas to fit the needs of the company.

“Oddly enough, that was one of the most difficult parts of the competition, because we had to really think about the company holistically to determine what the ideal investment firm would look like,” Baini said. “Right when you walk into the room, you introduce yourself as an expert in an industry with tons of industry contacts, even if it isn’t true. You have to be confident in your presentation. In the first round, we lost points because we didn’t come up with a strong fictional team, so in the second round we really thought about it and worked on improving our ability to compile a team of experts.”

“We had a 14 minute segment to interview the startup teams, and each person on the team has their own questions that they’ve identified to ask,” Amozegar said. “We were judged during that evaluation based on the insight we had into the venture capitalist process and what questions we were asking.”

In addition to understanding venture capitalist-affiliated terms, the team was judged on their ability to command the room.

“Considering the amount of questions that we should be asking, it’s extremely tough to accomplish everything in just 14 minutes, so the judges graded us oncontrol in the sense of being able to get the necessary information out of the entrepreneurs while also moving on to the next topic without being too aggressive,” Stallings said. “It’s a difficult balance because you’re building a real relationship when you’re going to become business partners.”.”

The Rady team was able to ask questions after the pitch and the judges – a group of celebrated venture capitalists, lawyers and angel investors – grilled the team on their knowledge of the process.

“They asked us  questions to intentionally throw us off — so even if we asked the right question or had insight into the company that was correct, they’ll question it and make is sound like it’s completely wrong just to test to see if we actually knew what we were talking about,” said Stallings with a smile. “We had to walk in with some nerve, otherwise they just break that down. It was a great learning experience, because that’s likely how that scenario plays out in the real world.”

Valuable insights

Although the team did not advance to the next round, they believe the experience was worthwhile.

“This was a great opportunity to get positive exposure for the Rady School in the venture capital world,” Skefos said. “Rady students have a lot to offer in terms of our connections to technology and science, from our esteemed cohort, versus traditional venture capitalist companies that are typically heavily finance-based. Companies are starting to realize they need to have at least an expertise in a lot more than before. They are trying to hire scientists and people with a science background so, this school is unique in that way.”

The development of a new Rady School club was also a positive attribute of competing in the Venture Capital Investment Competition.

“Rady is an entrepreneurial school, and part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem is venture capital,” Engram said. “That’s a big reason why I started the Rady Venture Capital Club and going forward, it’s a great opportunity for students to get real-world experience in this field.”

March 15, 2019 0 comment
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#RadyMade Startup Wins Pitch Competition

written by Matthew Wu

A healthy beverage startup company found at the Rady School of Management placed first in the Ignite UC San Diego startup pitch battle, earning a cash prize of $5,000 and being named best product.

The company, headed by CEO Kabir Gambhir (MBA ’10), produces the drink Cascaraa, made from the sun dried coffee fruit of the same name, which hopes to provide a healthy alternative to naturally caffeinated beverages for younger audiences. Gambhir said he was inspired to create the drink after facing health problems with traditional caffeine, and applied his past experience within the medical field in creating the drink.

“Discovery was a big part of maintaining health and wellness,” Gambhir said. “ It’s something that I’ve really been inspired to share with as many people as possible.”

 The restructured Ignite Startup battle format now features a rap battle as a part of its competition, incentivizing companies to find a creative alternative in pitching their ideas.

Gambhir, alongside fellow team member Renan Iwayama (MBA ’19) and a few members of the company, did just that, showcasing their rapping skills with their original song, “Drink Cascaraa,” a parody of Snoop Dog’s iconic, “Drop it Like it’s Hot.”

“It was a fun and amazing way to challenge ourselves in writing the lyrics for the song from a pitch standpoint,” Iwayama said, “I’d definitely approve of them doing something like this again next year.”

Gambhir says he plans to use the prize money in reinforcing the company’s marketing strategies by partnering with Hello Advisor, a promotions and marketing firm, in order to continue expanding their product across San Diego, with the eventual goal of reaching all of California.

“We’re thrilled to be working with them, and in using their guidance in looking for new strategies and expand,” Gambhir said.

March 6, 2019 0 comment
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StartR Continues to Startup

written by Hallie Jacobs

Since 2012, with the launch of mystartupXX, accelerators have had a presence on the Rady School of Management campus. The mystartupXX program was a first of its kind startup accelerator focused on building female-founded companies. Not long after, in 2013, StartR was launched with a goal of accelerating startups led by entrepreneurially minded MBA students and alums, helping them achieve success that was unseen in the school before the program.

As interest in entrepreneurship has grown, so has the demand for additional programs to support the diverse interests and talents of Rady School students.  As the programs expanded their scope and reach, more students and San Diego community members were exposed to the burgeoning entrepreneurial landscape with the help of the resources and network provided by the Rady School, thanks to programs like the Veteran Ventures and Social Venture Accelerator.

Each of the accelerators has undergone changes over the past year, with the most significant being the expansion of mystartupXX to included not only female founders, but those from diverse and traditionally underserved populations. With all of these changes, this was the perfect opportunity to bring all of the accelerators under the same umbrella and look forward to building on the StartR brand. The new StartR will encompass the programs launched at the Rady School to form a more unified and holistic entrepreneurial platform.

“The Rady School accelerator programs have helped to launch more than 55 ventures to date, and we hope to bring even more veteran, community, youth and diverse entrepreneurs into the startup world,” said Lada Rasochova (MBA ’08) Executive Director of the California Institute for Innovation and Development. “Bringing all of our programs together under the StartR umbrella will better tie them together, and will help us share resources and showcase our reach and commitment to diverse entrepreneurship.”

Rady School entrepreneurial programs have exponentially grown since the launch of StartR and mystartupxx, providing entrepreneurial resources to hundreds of students and community members. The innovative approach of the program will continue to shift and change, addressing the needs and trends in the startup world.

The first StartR Class

“The StartR accelerator programs are in a fantastic position to help our students and community members with their companies and ideas,” Rasochova said. “The Rady School is home to a wealth of resources, from brilliant faculty, to a wide network of investors and a number of workshops designed to help businesses get off the ground. We have been able to create new programs based on interest and needs of entrepreneurs in all sectors and at every stage of their journeys.”

New brand, same focus

The StartR programs all have the same goal – to help connect budding entrepreneurs with the resources and opportunities necessary to taking new companies and ideas to the next level. While StartR Rady is focused specifically on helping Rady students and alumni launch their companies, the other four programs are designed to help members of the UC San Diego and greater San Diego communities.

StartR Rady

A new name for the original six-month StartR program, it was created for Rady School affiliated students and alumni who already have a business foundation. During the program, students have access to a number of workshops, mentorship opportunities, networking events and more. The program culminates with a pitch event where startups present their companies to San Diego business leaders. 

StartR Inclusion

Originally mystartupXX, this program introduces early-stage founders from underrepresented populations to the world of startups through mentorship, business education and funding. StartR Inclusion strives to promote diversity in entrepreneurship at UC San Diego and beyond. Teams must be affiliated with UC San Diego (students at any level, recent alums, postdocs or students at local research institutes) and must have a member of a traditionally underrepresented population in a leadership role to participate.

StartR Impact

Businesses with a socially-conscious focus are booming, and investors are eager to support companies that also have a social mission. Formally known as the Social Venture Accelerator, StartR Impact nurtures innovative, scalable companies that address important social issues. The program is open to all UC San Diego undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students.

StartR Veteran

StartR Veteran was launched at UC San Diego in 2017 as Veteran Ventures to support veterans looking to launch a business after serving. The 10-week program provides veterans with the support and skill development necessary to be successful in entrepreneurship. This program is open to veterans inside and outside of the UC San Diego network who are interested in launching a business, or who are ready to scale and raise capital for existing businesses. StartR Veteran is a collaboration between UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management, The Basement, and Office of Innovation and Commercialization.

StartR Teen

It’s never too early to start thinking entrepreneurially, and StartR Teen strives to introduce middle and high school students to the world of startups. StartR Teen works to introduce students to startups, successful entrepreneurs and potential career mentors to showcase the exciting world of entrepreneurship in America’s Finest City.

February 13, 2019 0 comment
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A New Class of StartR Entrepreneurs

written by Hallie Jacobs

The StartR Fall 2018 Cohort is Ready to Innovate

Rady School of Management has a number of programs and services available to students looking to break into the startup scene. Among the most popular programs is the StartR accelerator — a six-month program designed to support budding entrepreneurs and their startups through workshops, mentorship, access to funding and more.

The newest class of student-led startups includes innovative ideas ranging from streamlined parking mobile applications to novel gene therapies.

SurfUp is an automated surfboard rental station that is paired with a smartphone application to make the surfboard rental process convenient for beginner surfers and tourists on the beach, in-front of stores, resorts, restaurants, and much more. 

AngioX Therapeutics is an early stage biopharmaceutical company that develops novel therapies for patients with rare Cerebral Cavernous Malformations (CCMs). 

Visionful

Visionful created a parking and traffic intelligence system for efficient transportation.

Bou is a small device that can save, transfer, and emit smells instantly in various circumstances to enhance consumers’ daily experiences in different settings like while watching movies, playing video games, shopping, online shopping, relaxing, etc. 

Freightracker

Frieghtracker brings IOT solutions to the transportation industry in order to streamline operations and reduce costs.

February 6, 2019 0 comment
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Students

New Majors to Tackle Big Issues

written by Inga Kiderra, with Lauren Fimbres Wood and Kim McDonald

UC San Diego has added several new majors that engage with real-world concerns and offer students hands-on training in solving social problems. Among these are two in the Division of Social Sciences: Business Psychology and Real Estate and Development.


As they learn to plan sustainably for the 21st century and beyond, students in Real Estate and Development will carry out projects in the community and work with professional practitioners. Photo by Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications.

The new majors were established in response to future demand, workplace trends and alumni feedback. They take advantage of the interdisciplinary nature of UC San Diego, exposing students to a range of faculty and learning experiences across campus.


Business psychology melds core business and management knowledge with understanding how the human mind works and how people work together. And the real estate and development major connects real estate finance and development with data visualization and analysis, urban planning and design, sustainability, demographic trends, and new technologies. Both majors are the first of their kind in the UC system

Business Psychology
The Department of Psychology in the Division of Social Sciences will offer a new degree this coming fall, a B.S. in business psychology, designed to train students to apply psychological principles to the workplace and to organizational challenges and opportunities in an increasingly diverse and international world. The major will offer a combination of training – people skills and statistical analysis in the applied science of solving business problems in an ethical manner.

The new psychology major is the first business psychology degree in the UC system and includes classes offered by the Rady School of Management.

Victor Ferreira, chair of the psychology department, said he has been counseling students for years to add a business minor or an economics major to their psychology studies, especially if they’re interested in pursuing a career directly after college. So when the Rady School approached with the idea, he said, “We jumped at the chance to collaborate on behalf of our students. It’s great to offer our students another practically-oriented option.”

The psychology department is also piloting a novel program in collaboration with the School of Medicine. Funded by alumnus Joseph Edelman, the pilot, which is planned to be launched fully in the 2018-2019 academic year, gives psychology undergraduates the rare opportunity to gain clinical experience in psychiatry.

Real Estate and Development
A minor in real estate and development started winter quarter, a major (a bachelor of science) begins fall 2018. Offered by the Urban Studies and Planning program in the Division of Social Sciences, Real Estate and Development evolved in consultation with alumni. It is the first undergraduate degree of its kind in the UC system.

Students in the program will learn how to plan efficiently and sustainably for the 21st century and beyond, taking into account transportation patterns, mixed use of land, innovation, equity and social justice, green infrastructure, and more.

“Our real estate and development program takes a truly comprehensive approach to teaching hybrid skills,” said faculty director Mirle Rabinowitz-Bussell. Students will combine skills in economics, real estate finance, physical planning and design, and data visualization and analysis, she said.

Part of what makes the UC San Diego program special, Bussell said, is that students will have ample opportunities not only to carry out projects in the community, but also to interact with and learn from professionals. The majority of the instructors in the program’s core courses are distinguished practitioners.

Real estate and development, Bussell said, is currently collaborating with the Department of Economics and UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management on course offerings, and plans to add more collaborators in future. “Our students will get the best of a liberal arts education and access to all that a major research university has to offer, plus applied, real-world experience working with practitioners doing the work,” said Bussell.

February 4, 2019 0 comment
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Rady Goes Global

written by Hallie Jacobs

Studying abroad is not an opportunity available just for undergraduate students looking to learn and explore in other countries. Inspired by the success of countries across the world and the cultural impacts of business and entrepreneurship, the Rady School of Management created a number of programs available to MBA students for the opportunity to learn about business across the globe.

 Students pursuing MBA degrees will travel to China and Cambodia over spring break, and a cohort of business students from Israel will travel to San Diego to learn alongside Rady students. In addition to the spring break trips, students also have an opportunity to participate in a weekend-long program in Baja California.

Cambodia

This brand-new experience offers students the chance to serve a social enterprise company in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. As part of the Rady School Center for Social Innovation, a team of six students was selected to participate in an international consulting project, working with iDE International’s Cambodian Hydrologic subsidiary. The team will work with the company to help develop additional products that go beyond the company’s existing ceramic water filters– a successful venture that has made clean water more affordable for the country’s residents. Participants will receive credit for the course Management 443 – Topics in International Business.

China

This program introduces a group of students to the fascinating emerging “New” China – a technologically advanced country, leading new developments in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data and more. The trip is designed to give Rady School students a better and deeper understanding of the country through the exploration of new and emerging trends in e‐commerce, automotive and technological industries. Participants will receive credit for the course Management 443 – Topics in International Business.

Baja California

If a longer trip doesn’t fit in a student’s schedule, the Graduate Programs office devised a new pilot program for students to travel across the border for the opportunity to obtain global perspectives. California’s southern neighbor is a hub for development, so the Baja California trip was created for business students to get a better and deeper understanding of the dynamic cross-border business culture, where deep economic and cultural linkages result in the creation of value, jobs and exports.  

Israel in San Diego

Each year, a contingent of Israeli business students travel across the globe to study at the Rady School as part of the U.S.-Israel Center on Innovation and Economic Sustainability. This year’s focus? Bringing a product to the U.S. market. Four teams of Israeli entrepreneurs will study entrepreneurship at the Rady School and devise strategies and plans on how to bring their innovative startups to the U.S. consumers and companies. Throughout the five-day program, Rady students will be assigned to the teams, helping them understand the nuances of U.S. businesses and processes, including competition, barriers for entry, customer acquisition and more. At the end of the program, Israeli startups will pitch their Go to Market strategies to a panel of experts.

February 4, 2019 0 comment
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Leveraging an MBA to Fight For Affordable Senior Housing

written by Ming Ye

A national conference focused on investing in the senior housing market is not something that sounds too familiar with Rady MBA students.  To the FlexWeekend ‘19 cohort, the seemingly unlikely connection all started from the Lab to Market program last spring when students were taught to create business ideas through unfair advantages identified during their career experiences. One of the many business ideas presented to Professor Vish Krishnan at the end of the course was about an autonomous health monitoring system for elderly people. For Lijun Liu and I, this was just the beginning phase of a great learning experience on entrepreneurship at the Rady School of Management. While continuing the research on the senior care market, we got connected with Paul Mullin, Senior VP of Silverado Care, who then introduced us to Chuck Harry, Chief of Research and Analytics at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). Through scholarships offered by NIC, both Lijun and I attended the organization’s annual Fall conference in Chicago, along with 17 other students from 12 prestigious academic institutes, including Columbia, Cornell and the University of Wisconsin.

NIC is a nonprofit organization that supports housing access and choice for America’s seniors by providing data, analytics and connections that bring together investors and providers in all phases of senior care. The original goal we had was to learn about the senior housing and care market through the conference. We were interested in attending some of the educational presentations and panel discussions regarding senior housing and care and were hoping to secure some networking opportunities. As we found out later on, this conference is a huge platform for business engagement, negotiation and transactions in the senior housing and care market. The attendees are typically investors, bankers, insurance agencies and senior housing developers. Hundreds of business deals are made during the three days of the NIC conference. This year, there were 3,125 attendees, making it the largest conference in NIC history.

The first day of NIC officially began at noon, so that morning was dedicated to networking.  Lijun connected with Axel from Kisco Senior care, which we will be visiting one of their communities by the end of November to get more first-hand knowledge. Using LinkedIn as a tool, I broke the ice with two people from USI Insurance. Charlie and Richard answered questions regarding insurance coverage for senior care. Then I met with Dee Bangerter, CEO of Rocky Mountain Care. Dee is a long time senior housing developer who has been in this industry for almost 50 years. He shared insights on senior housing design and development, and key areas that make significant differences in clients’ experiences.

The NIC is a very well organized conference. The discussion panels consist of people who are true domain experts in different aspects of the senior housing and care industry. We attended a few sessions in the afternoon and found that the level of knowledge from the panelists was very professional and insightful. For the students who attended the conference through the scholarship program, NIC also held a networking session during a lunch gathering. Later in the evening, we attended a happy hour organized by NIC. Lijun spoke with attendees about the Rady School Lab to Market program, including Lisa Marsh Ryerson, who is the president of AARP Foundation and a speaker in the NIC talk program. I also had a great time talking with Bill Kauffman who is the Senior Principal of NIC and a panelist in the “What Is It Really Worth?” panel discussion.

The keynote speech on the second day was the highlight of the conference. Former chief economy advisor Gary Cohn was hosted by Steve Liesman from CNBC on the topic of macro economy and future outlook. Gary shared a wide spectrum of his wisdom and vision with a great sense of humor. He covered a variety of topics, including the market, trades, Trump administration economic policies, tax cuts, deficits, wages and more.

Lijun and I left NIC with a wealth of knowledge on the senior housing and care industry, as well as the market condition on senior housing investment.

The networking capacity of the conference connections built through this experience was well beyond our imagination and expectations. We really want to congratulate Chuck and the NIC organization for the great successful conference and appreciate the opportunity for the fantastic experience that we went through. The next NIC conference will take place in February 2019, right here in sunny San Diego.

November 19, 2018 0 comment
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