Tag Archives: BHP

Junior Jeffrey Li Working to Make Positive Changes to Medical Research

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JeffLiJeff Li was drawn to UT by the roaring school spirit, high-caliber academics and top-notch funding for research. When he started at UT he found a land of opportunity as he made the transformation from Biochemistry major in his freshman year to a double major in BHP and the Dean’s Scholar Honor’s Program in natural sciences. He also received the Unrestricted Endowed Presidential Scholarship, which is one of the most prestigious continuing student scholarships offered by UT and has also become heavily involved in research, “I’m so thankful that I chose UT because there are a lot of opportunities here that I don’t think I would’ve found elsewhere,” said Li.

Jeff LiLi has always known that he wanted to go into healthcare and research, interning at the Texas Medical Center immediately after graduating high school. Now as a junior in the BHP, Li has found a new interest in examining how healthcare and business intersect, “I want to learn more about how to take the business principles from my BHP courses and cross-apply them to make healthcare more efficient. I want to make a big contribution in this area,” said Li.

He is specifically concerned with how research funds are allocated and the extended time gap between when a medical breakthrough begins at the laboratory bench to ten plus years when it reaches the patient’s bedside. “It’s interesting to me how someone puts a quantitative value on someone’s potential research. I think business concepts and risk management can play a big part in improving this decision-making process by decreasing possible risk and subjectivity,” said Li. “Something McCombs is really good at is teaching us how to make the best choices with a limited amount of information and that’s something I want to continue to learn here and apply to interdisciplinary healthcare and science fields.”

As for the time gap in the research process, Li would like to find improvements to promote efficiency. “What I want to do is leverage education and sustainable business models to develop new therapies for things like Alzheimer’s and cancer, and create new technologies,” said Li. “And I’d like to accelerate that development – get the necessary approval, get it to the patient’s bedside and then bring the information you collect from the patient’s bedside back to the lab bench creating bi-directional communication.”

Jeff Li (front) with Learn To Be

Jeff Li (front) with Learn To Be

Shortly after beginning in the BHP, Li discovered another passion for education through Learn To Be, a non-profit organization that offers free online tutoring services to underprivileged children across the country. Li became involved with the UT chapter, started by a group of BHP students, after learning about the group’s mission. “A lot of times tutoring doesn’t make it to the areas that need it most,” said Li. “What most schools in the nation do have is a computer and internet access, which is really all we need.” Learn To Be has over 600 tutors across the nation made available to students in grades 5–12 via different pre-existing technologies.

Ultimately, Li is working towards creating a better world for generations to come, “I believe that people should not be a victim of their DNA. People should not be a victim of the zip code from where they grew up. Everyone should have the right to aspire to something,” said Li.

Jeff LiLi’s outstanding contributions on campus have not gone unnoticed. He was recently chosen as a recipient of the Texas Exes Presidential Leadership Award, which recognizes undergraduate students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership within the student community at UT Austin. “It means the world to me,” said Li. “I really love that the UT community rewards students for taking a blind leap of faith to make real changes in this world, holding true to the motto, ‘What starts here changes the world,’” said Li. He also encourages his peers to find their passion and take action, “A lot of people think they’ll wait to create change until they get a job or finish graduate school, but you can make a difference right here, right now.”

Li will graduate next year and plans to continue on to medical school. His hope for the future is to work as an intermediary improving the health of others by further opening the valve between research and healthcare.

 

 

 

 

 

Kyle Campbell Competes For Mr. McCombs Title In Style

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Kyle Campbell with escort Jemma Miller

Kyle Campbell with escort Jemma Miller

Written by Kyle Campbell

On Friday, Jan. 31 I had the amazing opportunity of representing HBA in the Mr. McCombs Pageant. This fundraiser, organized by the org reps of the Undergraduate Business Council, pits representatives from other McCombs organizations against each other in a fight for the title of “Mr. McCombs.” The winner also gets to choose which charity the proceeds go to.

This experience was grueling, competitive and exhilarating all at once.  The other contestants and I spent at least a month practicing the choreography for our opening dance, and trust me it took a LOT of practice until we were ready for the big stage.  Every week we would show up to rehearsal, and our choreographer, Tenci, would ask if we wanted to run through the whole thing to see what we remembered.  After stumbling through the few twists and fist pumps we could recall, we would share embarrassed looks, pat each other on the back, apologize to Tenci, and start learning the dance all over again.  The coolest thing is that after suffering through a dance none of us had any business attempting we became friends.  We added our own moves, started to learn about each other, and we were no longer competitors, but just 10 guys trying to get through a performance without embarrassing themselves because a few of our cheekier friends tricked us into agreeing to compete (Natalie Parma if you’re reading this I’m talking about you.)

Students that heart Kyle, showing their support at the pagaent

Students that heart Kyle, showing their support at the pageant

Finally the night of the competition came.  We all had to somehow make it through a choreographed dance, Q&A period, swimsuit competition and talent portion without falling or fainting from the pressure of performing in front of hundreds of UT students. As the opening notes of “I’m Too Sexy For My Shirt” started to play I wiped the sweat off my palms, ran out on the stage, chest bumped Archie Agarwal, the UBC Representative, and began maybe the most exciting hour and a half of my college career.  While being escorted by the lovely Jemma Miller and wearing a batman onesie, I talked about how if I could have lunch with anyone it would have to be Dr. Seuss. I showed off what I would wear to the beach.  But the highlight of the night definitely came out of the talent portion.  I began by playing Chopin’s “Revolutionary Etude” on my piano, but after about half a page I ripped the sheet music off and broke into what I hope was an extremely moving and powerful rendition of Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.”

In the end I lost the crown, but I came away from the experience with nine new friends, and memories that will probably stay with me for a very long time.  The Mr. McCombs pageant was an incredibly fun and fulfilling way to raise $2,158.81 for a great cause, and I consider myself extremely lucky to have been a part of it.

BHP Sophomore Recognized For Outstanding Leadership Across Campus

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BHP Sophomore Recognized For Outstanding Leadership Across Campus

CharlieAComing to UT was an easy decision for sophomore Charlie Adkins. Bleeding orange since birth, Adkins grew up watching Vince Young take the national title and cheered on the Longhorns in every sport possible. When asked why he came to McCombs Adkins replied, “McCombs is the best business school in the Southwest. BHP offers me smaller classes and I’m around the brightest individuals I’ll ever meet. Being around driven people pushes you to take on things you initially wouldn’t have.”

Adkins was most recently chosen as the only sophomore recipient of the Texas Exes Presidential Leadership Award, an award that recognizes undergraduate students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership within the student community at The University of Texas. “I am incredibly honored and humbled to receive the Texas Exes Presidential Leadership Award,” said Adkins. Six students are chosen annually from the UT student body to receive the award.

Adkins has been an outstanding student and shown stellar leadership across campus, especially in McCombs. He has been heavily involved with the Undergraduate Business Council (UBC) as chair for the VIP Distinguished Speaker Series, which hosts interviews with CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. “UBC represents students and it’s something I really enjoy doing,” said Adkins. “The Speaker Series allows CEOs to see how high caliber our students are, and encourages them to come back to donate and recruit.”

Along with UBC, Adkins is also part of Student Government and has been appointed director of the 2014 Longhorn Run, a 10K race that raises over $25,000 for the Student Government Excellence Fund, which benefits student organizations. “This year, I am looking to grow Longhorn Run and cement its place on campus as a UT tradition,” said Adkins. “Longhorn Run is a unique way for students to give back to other students.”

Adkins is interested in the sports industry and was a marketing intern with the Round Rock Express last summer. After earning his degree in accounting, Adkins hopes to go into baseball operations and manage an organization. When asked where he sees himself in his future career, he replied “Texas forever.”

BHP Freshmen Take on Excel and Grammar at Annual Boot Camp

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Written by Anna Hiran

PivotTables, Oxford commas, what-if analysis, faulty pronoun references. What? This year’s MIS 301H and B A 324H boot camp was a shocking wake-up call for me and a good number of other freshmen in the BHP. Tuesday morning, I unknowingly said that I knew how to navigate my way through Excel: by that, I meant I knew how to enter numbers in cells, use the SUM function, and fill cells with whimsical colors. I was completely unaware of a whole other realm, a whole untapped world, hidden beneath the deceivingly simple-looking ribbon bar at the top of the screen. Professor Agarwal wrapped up the MIS section for the night with an application-based problem that demonstrated the incredible functionality of spreadsheets as well as my serious lack of Excel knowledge.

Once the clock struck 6:30 pm, we raided the pizza tables outside the auditorium and appreciatively enjoyed our free dinner. Pepsico, our generous class sponsor, sent representatives to reveal amazing technology they had developed to increase efficiency and conveniently sell products to stores using only an iPad and their fingertips. Much to our chagrin, that mental break ended too quickly.

Part two of our boot camp started off with the grading of our grammar diagnostic tests. As Professor Riekenberg provided explanations for the correct answers, it was made clear that I had the grammar of a second-grade student. My everyday e-mail typically consists of a random sprinkling of commas, capitalization errors, and an-obnoxiously-excessive-usage-of-hyphens. Ouch.

Quite honestly, the night was a bit painful because my ego was hurt, but we now have multiple reasons to be even more thankful for these first-year classes. It’s all about laying down the foundation so that we can successfully use technology to our advantage and send e-mails to prospective employers without sounding like cavemen. It’s apparent that MIS 301H and B A 324H will provide us with so much more than what we already know, and we’re all anxious to see what our professors have in store for us these next few months.

Alumni Spotlight: Cindy Lo – Owner of Red Velvet Events, Class of 1998

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Cindy Lo, BHP ’98, was the McCombs BBA commencement speaker this past weekend. Cindy was also honored with the McCombs Rising Star Award this year, which is given to only two McCombs alumni annually who have been successful professionally, and have helped strengthen the McCombs Alumni Network. Cindy is the owner of Red Velvet Events, a full-service event management company based in Austin. She is also extremely involved in UT and her community. We were happy to chat with her recently about her career path and lessons learned along the way.

Tell me about your career path leading up to what you are doing now and what prompted you to change from consulting to event planning.

When I was at UT, I started as a BHP and accounting major, but I did my first internship with one of the big accounting firms and realized it wasn’t for me. That prompted me to switch to BHP and MIS as I always had fond memories of my computer science class back in high school. I graduated in 1998 and worked for a startup software company called Trilogy Software. When I started in my career, I thought I was going to go down the traditional business path, which is work your way up, then go to graduate school and continue down the executive track, but then it all changed. Working in a startup environment, I learned so much and I no longer had the desire to go on to get my MBA. I was at Trilogy for five years. When 9/11 happened, the company saw a shift in client’s pausing their existing contracts, so an opportunity came up for me to take a leave of absence without immediately affecting my employment status. I took advantage of this leave of absence option, and during that time reflected on what I wanted and realized I wanted to get into events and meeting management. I had difficulty getting hired to do what I do today because I didn’t have any formal background in this industry. I thought about starting my own event planning business, but was very hesitant because I knew how much work that would take. I had just come off of working 80-100 hour weeks and I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that again. Out of necessity, I did end up starting my own company because no one would hire me. I put together my business plan with the intent of going to work for someone else after I had some experience. That never happened because surprisingly the business took off. I would never have guessed that this is where I would be.

Describe the services offered by Red Velvet Events.

We offer full service event management. We will pair you up with the best caterer, florist, hotel, etc. We are the event architects. We help design your event program and manage all the details. We make sure everything happens the way you had envisioned. We do it all.

You started your company as a one-woman show and now have a staff of 13. Tell me about the growth of your company and what plans you have for the future of Red Velvet Events.

We have seen the most amount of growth in the last six years. We are bringing on three more in January 2014. In 2007, we started really aggressively growing our company (yes despite the downtown turn in the economy in 2008). Destination management and graphic design became a core part of our company during that time. I have another idea I am trying to launch in the next two to three years, but I am not ready to talk about it yet. I will stay true to events though.

In your industry I would imagine that innovation and creativity are very important. How do you encourage innovation and creativity amongst your staff and yourself?

Yes, they are important. I always ask my team to look around them and be a tourist in their own city. Look at things that are influential. When TV shows are a big hit, clients start wanting to incorporate them into their events. Knowing how to spot the trends and hits early is the key. Always be hungry and looking for ideas. I try to read as much as I can so I can stay on top of what is going on. Travelling internationally has also been great to get new ideas.

Are there any events you have planned that really stand out to you or that you are most proud of?

I have some favorite corporate, social and other events that stand out because they were just really challenging and in the end, we were excited we pulled it off. A client came to us once with a very simple idea and we made it a huge production. They wanted Santa Claus to come to their house to take some photos, but I turned it into something more elaborate and we basically turned their house into the North Pole. We did it all with only one week’s notice. I like to push the envelope to see where they want to take it, but we don’t push beyond what they want to do. I always want to bring the wow factor.

What would you say are the top 3 lessons you have learned as an entrepreneur.

1) If you think you have communicated enough, you haven’t. Never think you have over communicated.

2) Always be learning. You may think you know what to expect, but new problems come up every day. I am always pushing to see what I could have done to be better. If you think you are done learning, you need to move on to another career.

3) Always be thankful. Tell people you appreciate them, no matter how busy life gets.

What do you love most about what you do and what do you find the most challenging?

It is so rewarding to see my team grow both professionally and personally. It is a great feeling. I also enjoy seeing the event come to life; being able to put it all together and pull it off. I love seeing the end result and love the challenges that come with it. It is problem-solving and creativity rolled into one.

Your company was selected by the Austin Business Journal as one of the best places to work this year. What sets your company culture apart from others and what did that honor mean to you?

I have to thank my team for nominating the company. I felt very touched that my team took it upon themselves to do that. As far as the culture, we are very open office. If there is something bothering them, they can come to me and tell me. I am trying to take care of our team so that they take care of the clients. For example, we pay full medical benefits for everyone. They shouldn’t have to worry about that. I want them focused on our clients’ needs, and not worried about things like paying for medical coverage.

How do you think BHP prepared you for what you are doing now?

The teamwork we practiced in the classroom was really beneficial. It was useful to learn to work with different personality types. We were required to take all of the different business courses, which helped me a lot because I had to do it all when I started the business. The networking skills helped me find people who could help me along the way. I couldn’t have asked for a better network. It also taught me to be goal oriented and break down big goals into small chunks.

You just received the McCombs Rising Star Award, honoring your professional accomplishments, as well as your commitment to the McCombs Alumni Network. Tell me more about your involvement in UT and McCombs and why you think it is important to stay connected.

I started giving back because I was one of the lucky few who got a full-ride to UT. I wanted to pay it forward. The more involved I got, the more I realized it was good for not only my business but also help me with my soft skills. I served on the MIS Advisory Board, then the university’s 1883 Council, which then led to getting involved with the Forty Acres Scholarship Board. I love meeting the new students and seeing how driven they are. Giving back is very important to me. I value education and want to help in that realm. I know who made it possible in my life to receive the education I did and am so grateful.

What advice would you offer current BHP students?

Take the time to enjoy school. Get involved with the things that you love doing. Do something non-academic; try to be more than one-dimension. Make genuine friends and find friends outside of the business school. I was involved a lot in the business school, but love the friends I made outside of the school. I think it is very important. Keep in touch with your friends beyond just sending Facebook notes for their birthdays.