Michigan Tech College of Business Newsblog

Category: Academics

Marketing & Management Student Wins Gilman Scholarship to Study in Southern Spain

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By Jennifer Donovan

jbdonova@mtu.edu

Kaila Pietila points to Malaga, in southern Spain, where she will be studying.

Kaila Pietila points to Malaga, in southern Spain, where she will be studying.

December 14, 2015—

Kaila Pietila wants to push her boundaries by studying for a year in Malaga, in southern Spain. The competitive national Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship is going to help her do it.

The Gilman Scholarships offer grants for academic studies abroad to US undergraduates with limited financial means. The program’s goal is to better prepare US students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world.

And that’s exactly what Pietila, a fourth year marketing and management student in Michigan Tech’s School of Business and Economics, wants to do. “I want this to be my first step toward becoming a global citizen,”  she says.  “I plan to take this experience and make a difference by giving back and contributing to the increasingly interconnected community of our world, as I build my career in an international setting.”

She’s not quite sure what that career is going to be yet.  “I haven’t quite figured out exactly what I want to do when I ‘grow up’ because I’m interested and passionate about so many things,” she says. “I know whatever path I take will most certainly involve people, but I’m hopeful this experience abroad will help clarify my next step.

Malaga, in Southern Spain

She’s going to Universidad de Malaga to study international relations and Spanish language. At this point, her knowledge of Spanish is limited to the basic vocabulary and phrases she learned in high school in Hartland, Michigan, “so the language barrier will most certainly be a challenge,” Pietila says.  “However, I’m excited to focus on language while fully submerged within the culture through my Spanish coursework, daily interactions and travel abroad, and while living with my host family.” 

What made her pick Malaga?

“Malaga attracted me with its melting pot of cultures and unique location as a pinnacle of European and African influences,” Pietila says. “It is a study abroad destination not chosen by many American students, allowing for more cultural immersiveness, but it’s a popular choice among students from elsewhere in Europe. It’s a perfect place for me to study, analyze, discuss and debate global business communication in an international setting.”

Pietila has been working in Career Services since her first year at Tech. The staff there are proud of her for winning the Gilman Scholarship—but not surprised at her success. 

“Everyone at Career Services could see that Kaila was a star from the moment she started as a student assistant with us,” said Julie Way, assistant director for career development education in Career Services. “Throughout the last four years, she’s consistently gone above and beyond and exceeded our expectations. We’ve enjoyed seeing her grow personally and professionally and have very much appreciated the value she’s added to Career Services.”

Michigan Technological University (www.mtu.edu) is a leading public research university developing new technologies and preparing students to create the future for a prosperous and sustainable world. Michigan Tech offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering; forest resources; computing; technology; business; economics; natural, physical and environmental sciences; arts; humanities; and social sciences.

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MIS student achieves Capital One Academic All-District First-Team honors

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BG_KwangMichigan Tech women’s tennis player Kwang Suthijindawong (Bangkok, Thailand) has earned Capital One Academic All-District First-Team honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Suthijindawong was selected as one of 13 female Division II student-athletes from the Midwest Region in the at-large category, which includes the sports of bowling, fencing, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, tennis, hockey, rifle, skiing, swimming and tennis.

Tech’s No. 1 singles player, Suthijindawong was named the Huskies’ first GLIAC Women’s Tennis Player of the Year last fall after a 12-0 league singles record. The junior completed her third perfect season in GLIAC singles (36-0). She posted a 17-1 overall record in singles, falling in the championship match of the ITA Midwest Regional singles draw. Suthijindawong and partner Sandra Cvetanovic posted 15 wins in doubles on their way to becoming the ITA Midwest Regional Doubles Champions—the first in school history.

In the classroom, Suthijindawong owns a 3.57 cumulative grade point average in management information systems.

Suthijindawong is eligible for Academic All-America recognition, which will be announced June. 10.

 

This article was written by Wes Frahm, director of media relations, athletics. It was originally posted in Tech Today on May 15, 2015.

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APMP Members ENGAGE in Investment Symposium

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April 1, 2015 – With a GDP of over $17 trillion dollars, the U.S. is the largest economy in the world. Despite the 2008 financial meltdown, the US dollar has, and continues to be most trusted currency throughout the globe; helping to make the US financial markets the place where investors turn to for security. As APMP students look to enter the world’s largest and most trusted financialsystem it’s important to venture outside the classroom and learn from professionals first hand. This past week APMP seniors Joel Florek, Yi Yuan, and Yinan Chen when to Detroit, MI for Engage 2015 to do just that.

APMP JoelENGAGE is a two day international investment education symposium. The goal at Engage is to help provide a level of insight into our financial system that students can’t learn from sitting in classrooms. To accomplish this goal Engage brought in some of the top financial professionals in the industry to host Q&A discussions.

For example, Dennis P. Lockhart, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and a 2015 voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee spoke on the Fed’s economic policy decisions from the depths of the 2008 economic meltdown to today. Chaired by Janet Yellen, the FOMC decisions significantly impact not just the US economy, but the global economy. Ultimately Mr. Lockhart made the argument that the actions of the FOMC will be seen as vital to turning around the US economy. He added that within the next 6 to 12 months the FOMC will begin to ease out of its current actions which have been taken to prop up the US financial system. One unique comment from Mr. Lockhart was his cautioning of high US government debt. Due to low interest rates the US has had the ability to borrow high quantities of short term debt requiring small interest payments. As these debts mature, the US will be forced to refinance at higher interest rates hindering its ability to pay off debts.

Additional keynote speakers include Jeffrey Kleintop, the Chief Global Strategist for Charles Schwab and Co., Fred Tomczyk, the President and CEO of TD Ameritrade, and Scott Powers the President and CEO of State Street Global Advisors, which oversees $2.4 trillion in traded funds. Students learned their trading strategies, ideas on the direction of the economy, and career advice to help direct students into the right career paths.

The second day of conference allowed students to break up into smaller sessions that provided more Q&A opportunity. For example, students were able to learn about the CAN SLIM trading strategy, venture capital, hedge funds and received targeted career advice. Thinking back on the Engage experience, Joel Florek said he realized the field of finance is constantly evolving and there is no clear definition as to what one will be doing as a finance professional. Florek said “there is significant room to constantly be learning and changing within the profession. Ultimately, as a finance student ready to go into industry the Engage conference helped to make the lessons learned in the classroom more real, and gain exposure to the flexible ideology that exists amongst professionals.”

This article was written by APMP members Yinan Chen, Joel Florek, and Yinan Chen.

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APMP Team Repeats Win in New York City

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Cory Sullivan participating in Nasdaq closing
Cory Sullivan participating in Nasdaq closing

March 31, 2015 – It’s been said the only thing more difficult than winning a championship, is repeating. That is exactly what an Applied Portfolio Management Program team from Michigan Technological University has done.

For the second year in a row, the School of Business and Economics’ APMP team won the global investment competition at the Global Asset Management Education (GAME) Forum V, hosted by Quinnipiac University in New York City. The event, held March 19-21, attracted more than 1,200 students from 140 colleges in 40 countries and 39 states.

While in New York, the team participated in the NASDAQ Stock Exchange closing, attended presentations by some of the biggest names in the world of finance and visited with  APMP alums.

Keynote speakers included: Guy Adami, chief market strategist for Private Advisory Group and contributor to CNBC’s Fast Money; Joseph Terranova, chief market strategist for Virtus Investment partners and another “Fast Money” contributor; David M. Darst, former managing director and chief investment strategist for Morgan Stanley Weather Management; Abby Joseph Cohen senior investment strategist and president of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs; and Tom Keene, editor-at-large at Bloomberg News.

Tech Team

The APMP sent three students to the competition, Cory Sullivan, who participated in the NASDAQ closing ceremony, Heath Johnson and Derek Menard.

The results of the team’s investments were impressive according to Dean Johnson who is the James and Dolores Tretheway Professor in the School of Business and Economics and the APMP’s founding director. He says what sets the competition apart is the fact the students are investing real money–a lot of real money.

“The team manages $1 million through the Michigan Tech Fund,” Johnson explains. “These funds were explicitly donated to be managed by the students.”

He says the APMP team has done well with the fund’s money. Johnson says the team practices the concept of Risk Adjusted Returns, In which an investment’s return is measured by how much risk is involved in producing that return. Even more impressive is the fact the students themselves make all investment decisions. “They have complete control,” Johnson says. “They are hired by the APMP Advisory Board, but the students make each and every decision.

Heath Johnson, the only returning member from last year’s winning  team, says while there was a sense of pressure to repeat, the experience of having done it before was beneficial.

“After experiencing the competition last year I knew that we had to be mindful not only or our returns, but also the risk subjected to our portfolio.” Heath Johnson says.

“Our team really wanted to repeat last year’s impressive performance. Winning two years in a row out of 141 schools was incredibly exciting. We were able to outperform the market through very consistent returns while minimizing risk.”

NASDAQ Closing

Cory Sullivan says the overall experience was impressive on several levels. “From participating in the NASDAQ closing and having my picture appear in Times Square, to receiving advice from the biggest names in the finance industry, I realize the great opportunities APMP provides students,”

Indeed, the students hardly have time to enjoy the repeat victory. Heath Johnson, president of the SBE’s Finance Club and other members of the club traveled to the Chicago the following weekend for their annual trip to visit investment firms. Other members of the APMP traveled to Detroit Thursday and Friday to compete in the ENGAGE Investment Education Symposium and competition, hosted by Wayne State University.

Sullivan says the New York trip is just one of many experiences available to the team.  “We interact with great guest speakers on campus and via video conferencing, but we also get the opportunity to travel to both Chicago and Detroit to interact with investment professionals. “

Professor Johnson echoed that sentiment. “APMP students are gaining the experiences and education to be successful in the finance industry. Indeed, their success is already evident in their investment results.”

This article was written by Mark Wilcox and originally published on Michigan Tech News.

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