Posted on June 18, 2025 by Rebekah Alegria
Efrain Garza, a junior majoring in actuarial science and analytics at the Carlos Alvarez College of Business, was selected to present his research at the 2025 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Efrain Garza, B.B.A. Actuarial Science and Analytics '26
A member of the college’s Pre-Ph.D. Pathway Program, Garza’s project, “Optimizing Mentor-Mentee Pairing: A Linear Programming Approach for Diverse Business Majors,” applied data science and mathematical modeling to improve mentorship pairings for business students.
For Garza, a non-traditional and first-generation student, the opportunity to present at NCUR was deeply meaningful. “It was both humbling and exhilarating,” he shared. “Being able to represent UTSA and the Alvarez College of Business nationally reminded me that our work as undergraduates truly matters.”
Mentored by Mark Leung, associate dean for undergraduate studies and professor of management science and statistics, Garza developed a model that uses linear programming to pair students with mentors based on academic alignment and field-of-interest preferences. The result is a scalable, equitable framework that reduces bias, improves compatibility and saves time for program administrators.
Leung praised Garza’s initiative. “Efrain brought creativity, precision and purpose to this project,” he said. “His model demonstrates how research can enhance student success infrastructure in tangible ways.” 
The model draws from operations research and was designed to work across the college’s 15 undergraduate business degree programs and 30+ fields of interest. Described as “the E-Harmony of mentor matching,” the project offers tangible support for improving the efficiency of matching students and mentors in the UTSA Alvarez Mentoring Program—a key student success initiative in the college.
The experience is part of Garza’s broader journey in the college’s Pre-Ph.D. Pathway Program, which prepares high-achieving undergraduates for research-intensive graduate study. In addition to the NCUR project, Garza completed a replication study analyzing the market impact of the Enron scandal on Arthur Andersen clients. This experience deepened his interests in quantitative finance and empirical research while sharpening his technical skills in Stata and R.
“Undergraduate research has helped me grow as a thinker and as a leader,” said Garza, who is a member of the Business Honors program and the Honors College. “It’s empowered me to explore real-world problems with rigor and creativity—and to see myself as a future contributor to the academic community.”
Garza was also recently accepted into the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program. Through this program, he will participate in a summer research institute, receive graduate school preparation and mentoring and have additional opportunities to present his research at academic conferences. The McNair Program aims to prepare talented undergraduates for doctoral study and is another major step forward in Garza’s path toward earning a Ph.D.
He also remains actively involved on campus as a tutor and mentor, helping other students find their footing through the same programs that supported him.
Reflecting on his journey, Garza credits mentors like Leung, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Success and Research Juan Manuel Sanchez, faculty member Mahmut Sonmez and Susan Colorado-Burt, director of engagement and special programs at the Alvarez Student Success Center, for opening doors and championing his success.
“What differentiates UTSA Alvarez is their commitment to mentorship, research and purpose,” he said. “We aren’t just being prepared for the market—we are being prepared to lead it.”
— Rebekah Alegria
