Category: Student Spotlight

#TXMS Student Spotlight: Amulya Saridey, MS IT & Management

by canipec

Amulya Saridey

Program: Master of Science in IT & Management
Undergraduate University and Major: University of Texas at Dallas, Information Technology and Systems
Graduating Class: Class of 2021

About Amulya:
I describe myself as a curious individual who genuinely loves to learn and strives to be inspired. I find myself often standing at the cross roads of innovation and tradition as I tackle any problem- personal or professional. I’m a huge people’s person and look forward to every opportunity where I can learn from other’s experiences and stories. I really take pride in being someone who everyone can talk to and feel included around without hesitation! Apart from this, I’m the happiest when I spend time with my family. In my free time, you can catch me painting, reading, or cooking Mediterranean food!
Proudest accomplishment:
One of my proudest accomplishments was getting published in the local city newspaper when I was only 6-years old. Having just moved from India, I was a little kid who barely knew how to write well, forget writing essays or articles. So, for my first writing prompt, I decided to write an article about how Mahatma Gandhi was a hero to me because of his resilience. Somehow- my article ended up being chosen among all the local elementary schools and was published because of how touched they were by my perspective. Being barely 6-years old, I remember how over the moon I was yet extremely shocked at how this happened! It was a very pivotal moment in my life. This little innocent incident sparked a love for writing and public speaking much earlier than I would’ve have discovered otherwise. Even to this day, whenever I find myself stumped for motivation- I remind myself how if my 6-year old self could do that, then I can definitely excel at the task at hand!
Why did you choose the MSITM Program?
I chose the MSITM program because I loved how innovative and intuitive it was. I am constantly drawn to technology because of how impactful it is in solving a variety of problems. In addition, it is so effective in providing a platform for empowerment because of the vast reach and connectivity it has in everyone’s lives. So- innately I always knew I wanted to pursue a graduate degree that taught me how to problem solve with purpose using technology while also allowing me to specialize and I think MSITM does exactly that! It was my first choice from day one. Then I met with Dr. Conley and instantly knew this would be the right fit for me! I am so glad I get the opportunity to take part in it along with the wonderful people I’ve met so far!
What are you most looking forward to this year?
I am really looking forward to soaking up all the knowledge I can from my time here. I really feel like the MSITM program equips all of us with unparalleled skills to problem-solve and innovate so I really hope I can bring that to the forefront within my professional setting when I get a job. I am in awe of how kind and knowledgeable everyone here is. And lastly, I look forward to making a difference in any way I can. I really hope my time here can inspire others to be their best self- just like how MSITM alumni have inspired me to! 

#TXMS Student Spotlight: Siddarth Rumalla, MS Finance

by santiagoleon
Program:

Master of Science in Finance

Undergraduate University and Major: UT Austin College of Natural Sciences: Public Health

Graduating Class: Class of 2020

About Sid: I have a public health/health care background also from UT, and am currently looking for a full-time position in Texas related to health care, life sciences, or the government & public sector. I absolutely love both Austin and Texas as a whole. Southern hospitality is real, folks! More about my background and interests are below.

Proudest accomplishment:

I’m extremely proud of my ability to balance my academic and personal life. I’ve learned to become very proactive and have a strong sense of agency, allowing me to complete my academic responsibilities while achieving personal growth. For example, every week, I run long distance and play racquetball (completed a marathon after college), play and teach piano, play a variety of video games, and explore Austin with friends. Due to this, I have made long-lasting friendships and met many different types of people from different backgrounds & interests. This, in my opinion, is one of the best things the world has to offer!

Why did you choose the MSF Program?

While completing my health care background, I wasn’t satisfied with my business (both Finance and business as a whole) & technical knowledge and skills. The MSF Program was appealing in that it provided a lot of what I was looking for, at one of the best business schools in the nation, in just 10 months. After speaking with MSF students, alumni, and faculty, I was convinced that I could achieve these skills while improving my career prospects, both in the near future and in the years to come.

What have you enjoyed so far this year and what do you look forward to for the future?

I have thoroughly enjoyed the elective courses that began last month, especially the Energy course. I am also enjoying the practicum project, where I can apply my soft and technical skills on a very broad and open-ended question. After graduation, I’m looking forward to be involved in a firm or organization involved with health care, life sciences, or the government & public sector. With my fusion of health care and business knowledge & skills, I believe I would thrive best in these environments!

#TXMS Student Spotlight: Chris Fitzgerald, MSBA

by santiagoleon
Program:

Master of Science in Business Analytics

Undergraduate University and Major: Brigham Young University – Idaho: Applied Mathematics

Graduating Class: Class of 2020

About Chris: I grew up in rural Idaho just outside of Yellowstone. I love being outdoors hiking, skiing, biking or relaxing in a hammock. After undergrad, I took a job at Walmart working in supply chain. During that time, I taught myself SQL and Tableau to be more efficient in my job and bring better insights to the team. This is where my interest in advanced analytics grew.

Proudest accomplishment:

My proudest accomplishment is my family. Starting a career as a newlywed was rough. Leaving work to pursue graduate studies after having a son was even more challenging. However, my family has been the most rewarding part of my life and they are my greatest motivation.

Why did you choose the MSBA Program?

There are three main reasons why I chose the MSBA at McCombs. First, I wanted to complete my graduate studies in under 2 years time. Second, it needed to be a highly reputable program for its curriculum and placement. Third, it was essential that the classes combined my mathematics education with my business experience, giving me the necessary tools and understanding to have an immediate impact in my career. UT’s MSBA Program checks all of these boxes.

What have you enjoyed so far this year and what do you look forward to for the future?

I have loved experiencing Austin and being part of the Longhorn family. It has been great to make friends and establish a diverse network with my peers. One of my favorite classes was Text Analytics where I was able to scrape online data, clean it up, and make machine learning models to find insights from raw user content. I look forward to continuing my education on the job working on data science challenges while representing the MSBA brand.

#TXMS Student Spotlight: Subhayu Chakravarty, MSITM

by santiagoleon
Program:

Master of Science in Information Technology & Management

Undergraduate University and Major: IIT Kharagpur – Mechanical Engineering

Graduating Class: Class of 2020

About Subhayu: I am truly a jack of all trades, but I like to see myself as a Da Vinci person, or polymath, if you will. I feel very artistic when I paint, sketch or write articles on philosophy. I feel adrenaline rushes when I play soccer or find a unique chord combination on my ukulele, and definitely when my code works.

Proudest accomplishment:

I have two and both are getting admits to two great universities. The first was my undergraduate college – IIT Kharagpur which required the cracking of India’s toughest engineering entrance examination. The second was getting into UT Austin, my dream university for a Master’s education.

Why did you choose the MSITM Program?

I lose myself in time when I code and I’m very passionate about the world of tech. This world requires constant updates to one’s skillset and I’m an enthusiastic lifelong learner with a promise to never stop educating myself. This brought me to seek a higher, more specialized degree at UT, which is teaching all the latest and greatest pieces of technology in this brilliantly designed MS program.

What are you most looking forward to this year?

People call this course intense, but honestly I’m looking forward to the intensity. I’ve had quite a comfortably paced job with a stagnating learning curve and I believe I’m ready to deep-dive into technologies I’ve never used before and master them in this packed schedule.

#TXMS Student Spotlight: Zoha Zahid, MSM

by santiagoleon
Program:

Master of Science in Marketing

Undergraduate University and Major: Lahore University of Management Sciences – Bachelor of Science in Management Sciences

Graduating Class: Class of 2020

About Zoha: My favorite hobbies include dancing and acting in theatre. Ever since I was a little girl, I have actively participated in shows at school and other external platforms and taken advantage of every opportunity to perform.

Proudest accomplishment: My proudest accomplishment is that last year, my team reached the national final round of the Global Unilever Talent Hunt competition in Pakistan. We were one of 3 teams that reached this stage out of the 1300 that initially participated in the competition.

Why did you choose the MSM Program?

What attracted me to the MSM program was that the coursework is the perfect blend of the quantitative and qualitative aspects of Marketing, making it extremely effective in developing a thorough understanding of the subject. Secondly, I was highly motivated by how career-focused the program is and the vast network that being a part of The McCombs School of Business allows us to benefit from. Lastly, as an international student, the STEM status of the program was a definite plus-point for me to consider.

What have you enjoyed so far this year and what do you look forward to for the future?

I have really enjoyed building some amazing friendships with my peers and the wonderful faculty that McCombs has provided us with. Of course, I’ve learned a lot from course material, but a large part of the learning came from putting myself out of my comfort zone and meeting new people at various networking events – I’m so glad I was encouraged to do that here. I look forward to helping the program become the best MS Marketing program in the country, and I’m super excited to share my story with future prospective students, especially those back home in Pakistan.

#TXMS Student Spotlight: Apoorva Jasti, MSBA

by santiagoleon
Program:

Master of Science in Business Analytics

Undergraduate University and Major: Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati – Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology

Graduating Class: Class of 2020

About Apoorva: I love working on data to improve customer experience. I worked as a consultant for ~3 years at ZS Associates focusing on healthcare analytics. I love travelling, hiking and adventure sports. I love going on treks and the live music in Austin.

Proudest accomplishment:

My proudest accomplishment is getting an early promotion. In a team of 100 members where everyone got promoted in 2.5 years, I got promoted in 2 years. This motivated me, and helped me understand my importance in the team and that my contribution is very valuable.

Why did you choose the MSBA Program?

MS in Business analytics at UT Austin is known for its reputation in academic excellence, its commitment to research and teaching, and its location. The course curriculum is flexible and enables me to mold my career path. The career services team actively help students to be ready for professional jobs and give opportunities to students to interact with employers.

What are you most looking forward to this year?

I am looking forward to learning the different tools and trends in the data analytics space. I am also looking forward to making new friends and working on various projects with them.

#TXMS Student Spotlight: Alexandra Valerie Opela, MSITM

by santiagoleon
Program:

Master of Science in Information Technology & Management

Undergraduate University and Major: University of Texas at San Antonio- Cyber Security

Graduating Class: Class of 2020

About Alexandra: I am from the Katy/Houston area and have lived there for most of my life. I have dual citizenship for the U.S. and the Czech Republic. For fun, I enjoy baking Czech sweets with my dad, shopping, listening to every genre of music imaginable, playing video games, and spending time with friends.

Proudest accomplishment:

My proudest accomplishment was being able to achieve a 4.00 GPA in my undergraduate program.

Why did you choose the MSITM Program?

I was interested in applying to MSITM because I wanted to gain more technical knowledge. I felt like I wasn’t ready to go into the workforce yet and that I needed to learn more skills before I could do so. I was also interested in the program because of UT’s prestige and reputation. I was also looking for an in-state Master’s program that would provide a lot of value to me.

What are you most looking forward to this year?

I look forward to meeting the students from other MS programs and getting to know them better. I think it will be really fun when we all come together and get to share our experiences so far with our respective programs.

#TXMS Student Spotlight: Gabrielle Fultz, MS Marketing

by santiagoleon
Program:

Master of Science in Marketing

Undergraduate University and Major: UT Austin – Advertising

Graduating Class: Class of 2020

About Gabrielle: I’ve been playing volleyball competitively for almost a decade! When I’m not sleeping or playing my favorite sport, you can probably find me at the movies, shopping, or doing outdoor activities. An interesting and…embarrassing…fact about me is that I’m on level 3148 of Candy Crush – hey, it’s a great way to pass the time!

Proudest accomplishment:

My proudest accomplishment so far is my advertising capstone project. I was selected as a team leader and led my team to win the pitch for a real startup business. We each won an iPad for our hard work!

Why did you choose the MSM Program?

Advertising is just a small piece (promotion) of marketing and I wanted to learn about the other aspects – shoutout to the other three of the 4 P’s. In undergrad, I focused largely on thinking creatively with regard to qualitative components of campaigns. Because of my desire to be a proficient marketer and my love for critical thinking and data, I applied to the MSM program to uncover the quantitative side of marketing.

What are you most looking forward to this year?

I’m most looking forward to learning how to write code and use programs like R and SQL to analyze data. I’m also excited about the capstone project in the spring because my last capstone experience was so fantastic!

#TXMS Student Spotlight: Dan Fricks, MS Finance 2020

by santiagoleon

Program:

Master of Science in Finance

Undergraduate University and Major: University of Texas – College of Liberal Arts – Economics

Graduating Class: Class of 2020

About Dan: I grew up in Houston, Texas and always dreamed of going to UT. My dad went to Texas and my older sister, twin brother, and I followed in his footsteps. I love playing sports, snowboarding, and hosting friends at my house. I plan on pursuing a career in commercial real estate following my graduation from the MSF program.

Proudest accomplishment:

My proudest accomplishment is rebuilding a pier with three friends. There was an old and falling apart pier at my friend’s ranch and we decided to spend a whole day chopping up and removing the old pier and constructing a new one. It was a long day of hard work and I almost lost a toe in the process, but it was very rewarding to work with our hands on something and have a beautiful finished product at the end of the day.

Why did you choose the MSF Program?

I saw it as the perfect way to advance my technical skills and specialize in my field of study. Pairing the MSF program with the breadth of knowledge I gained from my economics degree seemed like an incredible opportunity to set myself up for long term success in a career in commercial real estate.

What are you most looking forward to this year?

I am most looking forward to sharpening my technical skills throughout the various courses offered through the program. I have gotten a lot of advice from older friends to master my excel skills while still in school and the MSF program does a great job of providing resources for us to do so.

#TXMS Student Spotlight: Prajval Gupta, MS IT & Management

by santiagoleon
Program:

Master of Science in Information Technology & Management

Undergraduate University and Major: ABV-IIITM Gwalior – Information Technology (IT)

Graduating Class: Class of 2020

About Prajval: I am a techno-managerial young professional who loves to work on solving business problems using core technologies. I want to innovate to create a change in society and have a strong belief in my decision thinking and desire to be a happiest and best version of myself. Also, I like to play squash, travel around the world, and love to cook Indian food.

Proudest accomplishment:

My innovation “Auto Dimmer Device” – an Indian patented product solving the night vision problems faced while driving at night. Working as a CEO at my startup firm helped me experience the taste of my dream.

Why did you choose the MSITM Program?

I have been learning and practicing IT tools for the past 5 years but gained business skills through self-learning and experiences only. This IT and Management program has emerged as one of the new programs which drew my attention as I believe it can help me become a techno-managerial professional who can smartly solve business problems.

What are you most looking forward to this year?

I am looking to learn the art of using IT tools to solve appropriate business problems. I am sure this program will help me build both technical and business acumen. I look forward to learn how to be a great professional and help society grow. Also, I look forward to build my network with people in the industry and make some good friends for a lifetime.