Category Archives: Student Profiles

Sitara Uppalapati

Written by Celesia Smith

Major: Canfield BHP, Computer Science Honors
Internship: Incoming STEP Intern at Google
Topics of Interest: Sustainability, Financial Market Policy, Cooking, Reading

As one of the world’s leading research universities, there are a variety of opportunities for students to explore and discover various disciplines. For Sitara Uppalapati, Canfield BHP and Computer Science Honors sophomore, the disciplines she wanted to learn more about were finance, policy, and technology. As an Undergraduate Research Assistant conducting research at the intersection of financial policy and computer science, she fosters her knowledge in the very areas she’s interested in while developing various skills along the way. 

Sitara found her position while perusing UT’s research database. As an out-of-state student who lives near D.C., Sitara said she always found herself academically engaged in government and policy. 

“Living so close to the nation’s Capitol basically all my life just really allowed me to immerse myself in understanding the government through visiting DC often and going on trips to museums or monuments and just being involved with government things (in high school),” Sitara said. “At the same time, as a computer science student I absolutely love the technical aspects of all things. One thing I’ve just always known I’ve wanted to do is harness technology to create a positive impact on the world around me.”

Sitara’s research is certainly impactful; she said her project has the potential to impact regulations and policies on a grander level. Starting in October 2019, Sitara has researched the level of influence the academic world has on policy.

“At a high level, our research’s goal is to understand the influence that academic research or economic principles have on financial market policies,” Sitara said. “We’re trying to determine – quantitatively – the extent to which academic work actually influences the decisions that are made by federal regulators because there is no current database or solution right now that has the information needed to make that determination.” Continue reading

Amie Nguyen

Written by Celesia Smith

Major: Canfield BHP, Finance  Area of Research: Private Equity
Topics of Interest: Sustainable Fashion, Entrepreneurship, Private Equity

In addition to diving into various classes, organizations, and internships, many Canfield BHP students immerse themselves in a part of academia that truly makes UT a premier university: the research. Such a student is Amie Nguyen, a junior Canfield BHP and Finance double major. Amie conducts research for Dr. Scott W. Bauguess, her former finance professor and the Director of the Salem Center program in Financial Markets Regulation. 

“I’m basically looking at the data for private offering filings,” Amie said. “Whenever a company raises money through a private offering, whether that’s debt or equity or something else, they have to file with the SEC, so I’m looking at the SEC data and trying to determine what kind of companies are looking for these private offerings. (I’m looking at) the type of companies, the number of offerings they’re offering, and a lot of different things about private offerings in general.” 

After enjoying Dr. Bauguess’s class, Amie got the opportunity to conduct research for him over the summer. Amie’s interest in private equity as a career led her to research private offerings specifically, giving her more insight into how the offerings function. 

“This summer I’ll actually be interning at McQuarry, which is an infrastructure private equity firm. When I interned with them last summer, I saw how they negotiate and what sort of investments they put their money into and how they think about choosing what to put their money into,” Amie said. “But you never really see the actual transactions and what needs to happen, so this research is just filling in that missing information that I wouldn’t otherwise have gotten.” Continue reading