Student Spotlight: Kisara Dang

Written By: Celesia Smith

Name: Kisara Dang

Major: Canfield BHP, Sustainability Studies, Geography, Humanities 

Topics of Interest: social impact, sustainability, agriculture, economic development

In addition to her traditional studies and organizations, Canfield Business Honors sophomore Kisara Dang has spent hours upon hours working on a project with the President’s Award for Global Learning, an accolade that prepares UT Austin students to conduct research and innovate internationally. As a Canfield BHP, Sustainability Studies, Geography, and Humanities quadruple major, Kisara has made a point to devote her time towards impact initiatives on and outside the Forty Acres.

When Kisara came to UT, she wanted to explore opportunities in social justice and equity, the campus community, and environmentalism. She joined the Sustainability Investment Group (SIG), The Daily Texan, Liberal Arts Council, SELL Fellowship, and more in an attempt to find her home at UT. 

“My freshman year was like more of an exploratory experience. (I was) trying to better understand myself and what I wanted to do, because I always knew I wanted to do something that was intersectional and that was connected to environmentalism,” Kisara said. “Saying yes to so many different things freshman year just really benefited me because it allowed me to meet so many people and pursue many different things.” Continue reading

Student Spotlight: Diavione Williams

Written by Celesia Smith

Name: Diavione Williams

Major: Canfield BHP, Finance + Minor in Sociology

Previous Internship: Texas Education Agency

Position: Grant Compliance and Administration Intern

Topics of Interest: social impact, early childhood education, studying to lofi beats

While some students searched Recruit McCombs for internships in supply chain management, investment banking, consulting, and more, Canfield BHP junior Diavione Williams searched for opportunities in education, whether it be social enterprise or government-related. Diavione ended up interning at the Texas Education Agency as a Grant Compliance and Administration Intern. In addition, Diavione is currently building her own education-based nonprofit, working to help close the opportunity gap throughout her time at UT. 

Diavione’s passion for education stems from her own classroom experiences as being labeled a “gifted student” from an early age, something she says in-part is simply due to her parents’ high expectations. As she got older, Diavione said she realized that intelligence didn’t set her apart from non-gifted students, but rather environmental factors and opportunity. 

“When I was super young, like in preschool, my family instilled in me the importance of education. My parents weren’t really involved in my academic life. It was simply an expectation that I was going to work hard– and I did,” Diavione said. “When you approach education from that standpoint, especially being really young, you’re seen as a gifted student, and then the myth of the gifted student (is formed). As I got older and older I started thinking, ‘What about the kids that aren’t considered gifted students? What makes them so different from me?’ and I realized there’s no difference at all. I realized that there’s just a really big disparity in the amount of education, opportunity, and classroom attention that lower-income or underprivileged students are given compared to their counterparts, so I’ve always made it a personal mission to do something about that.” Continue reading

Student Research Spotlight: Peter Huang

Written by Celesia Smith.

Peter Huang Headshot

Peter Huang

Majors: Canfield BHP, Finance, Math, Economics, Plan II 

Area of Research: Behavioral, Entrepreneurship in Austin, Global Economy & Development

Topics of Interest: Playing and watching soccer, curating Spotify playlists, macroeconomics, podcasts

For some students, research is a way to hone in on a particular career path or develop a specific skill. For others, it serves as an opportunity to diversify one’s knowledge and expand interests. Regardless, research remains a terrific way to get involved with the university. Peter Huang, a senior majoring in Canfield BHP, Finance, Math, Economics, and Plan II, is the latter kind of student– one who enjoys putting his eggs in various baskets. 

During his time at UT, Peter has served in an array of research roles alongside numerous professors, business and non-business alike. In the summer after his sophomore year, Peter elected to conduct unique research alongside finance professor Sam Kruger and IC² Institute’s Professor Elsie Echeverri-Carroll.

“Professor Kruger was working on this really interesting research question. He was basically trying to test if people who commit infidelity are also likely to have more instances of professional misconduct in the workplace,” Peter said. “He tested that by looking at Ashley Madison’s data. Ashley Madison is this dating site that advertises itself as a way to have an affair if you’re married. Back in 2015, there was a big data leak led by hackers who released details on people who had created accounts on the website. Professor Kruger and I took those details and tried to identify the places that those people worked at and then identify, on average, if they too have higher rates of misconduct than people who had comparable occupations, but did not have an account on that site.” Continue reading

Student Research Spotlight: Sitara Uppalapati

Sitara Uppalapti

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

Student Research Spotlight: Amie Nguyen

Amie Nyugen Headshot

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