Posted on May 8, 2014 by Lety Laurel
Fifteen business students participated in the inaugural UTSA Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry Showcase at the end of April. The conference was held to showcase the research capabilities of UTSA undergraduates. And, the end result for one student was a full-time job offer.
Biljana Jovanova
Biljana Jovanova, a senior honors student majoring in finance, leveraged her work on her year-end honors research thesis into a job with Rackspace—the subject of her study.
As part of her project “The Role of Economic Value Added in Increasing Shareholder Wealth,” Jovanova met with Karl Pichler, senior vice president and chief financial officer at Rackspace, to receive financial information about the publicly traded company. “He was surprised with the quality of work from an undergraduate,” said Jovanova, who is a native of Macedonia. In the end, she landed a job as a financial analyst at Rackspace based on the knowledge that she showcased from her research study.
Curtis Powell, a junior honors student majoring in economics, studied intergenerational mobility—the ability for individuals to change their social standing. “My first economics class looked at social mobility, and that sparked my interest,” he said. Powell will expand on previous research in this area and look at how qualitative factors may influence mobility. “It has been a lot of fun researching something you are interested in,” he said.
Senior honors marketing major Matthew Konwinski looked at the evolution of marketing to determine the best means of marketing products to consumers. “To satisfy the values of consumers in an age of abundance, marketers should be appealing to these deep level values. This can be accomplished by selling the customer, not products, but a story that tells the experience they will have. Anthropologie is a great example of a company employing this strategy.”
“This experience has been rewarding and challenging,” said Jose Camacho, a senior honors economics major who researched NAFTA trade. “Research is applicable to everything in our lives. All students can benefit from research.”
Business student projects
“Customs Unions and Trade Liberalization: An Evaluation of the North American Free Trade Agreement” José Camacho, senior majoring in economics
Faculty mentors: Hamid Beladi, Edgar Ghossoub and Ken Weiher
“Hidden Hormonal Influences on Loss Aversion”
Alicia Hernandez, senior majoring in marketing
Faculty mentor: Kristina Durante
“The Role of Economic Value Added (EVA) in Increasing Shareholder Wealth”
Biljana Jovanova , senior majoring in finance
Faculty mentor: Keith Fairchild
Supply Chain Analysis Team“Beyond Utility: A Proposal of the Conceptual Marketing Model”
Matthew Konwinski, senior majoring in finance and marketing
Faculty mentor: Victor Heller
“Digital Forensics: Ground Truth Analysis”
Sergio Martinez, senior majoring in computer science, minor in information assurance and digital forensics
Faculty mentor: Nicole Beebe
“Intergenerational Mobility: From Parents to Children”
Curtis Powell, junior majoring in economics
Faculty mentor: Lisa Montoya
“A Structured Analyses of the Service Operations at JPL Circulation”
David Tueme Ramos, senior majoring in management science
Faculty mentor: Mark Leung
“Empire TV”
Kelsey Ransom, junior majoring in marketing
“Supply Chain Analysis of Whole Foods and Organic Farming in San Antonio”
Jennifer Do, junior majoring in general business
Sarah Garcia, senior majoring in marketing
Jared Gregory, senior majoring in management science
Matthew Jundzilo, senior majoring in management science
Kenneth Martinez, senior majoring in management science
Amber Pena, senior majoring in marketing
Christian Phosarath, senior majoring in marketing
Faculty mentor: Mark Leung
Wendy Frost—
Please send your comments to: wendy.frost@utsa.edu
— Lety Laurel
