Alternative Sabbaticals In Industry Develop Skills, Says Associate Dean Suresh Nair

October 29, 2014

Suresh NairHow do credit card companies decide when to boost your credit line or send you a new-card solicitation in the mail?

And how do banks save millions by carefully managing their cash reserves?

Professor Suresh Nair has worked on these, and other pivotal business-research issues, as a means to enhance his knowledge as an educator and as the associate dean for graduate programs at the UConn School of Business.

A project-based, research-focused sabbatical at a large company can be a wonderful alternative to a more traditional academic sabbatical experience, Professor Nair said.

Not only did his sabbaticals in industry save tens of millions of dollars for companies, he has also received research awards, started a company with seed funding from the National Science Foundation, and transformed and strengthened his teaching.

“This is a largely unexplored opportunity for our faculty,” Professor Nair said following his well-received presentation to more than 50 colleagues this fall. “I’ve participated in sabbaticals at General Electric, Merrill Lynch and Booz & Co., and have had excellent experiences.

“I wanted to use my sabbaticals to pick up new skills. Going back to industry helped me stay on top of current issues in financial services, healthcare and entrepreneurship, and also gave me the opportunity to help these companies achieve their goals,” he said. “I left each of my three sabbaticals with new topics to research, and many ‘war stories’ to share in the classroom.”

To a consumer, credit-card solicitations by mail (sometimes derisively called junk mail) may seem like a random process, Professor Nair said. In fact, it is very complex. Who gets offered a credit card, and at what rate, involves complicated analytics, Professor Nair said.

“A company may start out with 10 million contacts and narrow them down to a million or fewer,” Professor Nair said. “The marketing experts want more customers and the risk experts want fewer. If you go to a store and you’re close to your credit limit, and you want to buy furniture, how does the bank determine if it should increase your credit line? If they don’t, you’ll use another card. If they hike it up too much, they risk higher losses if you become delinquent.”

Professor Nair helped create an algorithm—using credit scores and other factors—to determine who would qualify for a credit increase. His work was so sophisticated and unique that it won the coveted Wagner Prize.

During another sabbatical, Professor Nair worked at Merrill Lynch, delving into research of banking reserves.

“The Federal Reserve requires banks to set aside about 10 percent of your checking account balances as reserves. The bank cannot invest these funds and gets very little interest on it from the Fed,” Professor Nair said. “This rule comes from the Depression era, to prevent a run on banks. However, it means that banks have millions of dollars that they can’t invest.”

Professor Nair helped Merrill Lynch optimize its “sweeps” program to save $4 million a year.

The program was so successful that Professor Nair wanted to develop a similar product for smaller banks. He began a successful start-up in South Windsor using a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation.

“It gave me a good experience, the satisfaction of making payroll and creating and commercializing a new product,” he said. “It never would have happened without my sabbatical. It gave me a unique perspective as the founder of a company.”

Professor Nair said he began searching for sabbatical opportunities about a year prior to his leave, and that he was selective in the ones he considered. He found that industry was very welcoming, and wondered why more faculty don’t take advantage of similar opportunities. Industry is happy to host sabbaticals, since they are inexpensive to the firm, as long as an educator can demonstrate a skill that will complement and add value to the company.

Professor Nair worked on his sabbaticals without pay from the firm, since UConn continued to pay salary, asking that the corporations only cover his lodging and travel expenses. At the completion of his sabbatical, some of the companies asked that he continue his work as a paid consultant.

“It is difficult work,” he said. “I asked to be treated like an employee, with the badge, the email, the off-site meetings and everything. Sometimes I worked very long hours and I was away from home at least four days a week. It may not be for everyone. But the opportunities you get, and the real-life exposure to business problems and issues, really can’t be experienced any other way.”

After his presentation, many UConn colleagues said his work was eye-opening and that they would consider a similar, alternative sabbatical.

Professor Nair acknowledged that there is some trepidation on the part of faculty, who are under pressure to publish and might find an industry sabbatical a distraction. But Professor Nair has demonstrated that excellent published papers in top journals can result, and allayed some of those fears through his presentation.

“I felt I could navigate a path which would provide both research expertise, topics for publication, and also improve my teaching,” he said. “To me, it hit all the sweet spots I wanted.”

American Bullion College Scholarship

October 28, 2014

Scholarship Essay Rules

  • Scholarship essay must be a minimum of 500 words, maximum of 2,000 words.
  • Applicant must be currently enrolled at an accredited high school, college, or university within the United States.
  • Applicant must be a legal resident of the United States or hold a valid U.S. student visa.
  • One submission per person, per year.
  • Essays that fail to meet the above requirements will be disregarded.
  • Winners may have their essay featured on the American Bullion website, Facebook page, and blog. For up-to-date information on the scholarship and other American Bullion announcements, follow American Bullion on Twitter and Facebook.

Scholarship Deadlines

  • Application Deadline: January 1, 2015
  • Winners Selected: January 15, 2015
  • Winners Contacted: January 30, 2015

Scholarship Application

To apply for this scholarship opportunity, please complete the following form and include a 500-2,000 word essay answering the question: “Why is gold a good investment for future generations?” –

For more information and to submit your scholarship application go to American Bullion.

The Excel Builders Scholarship

Excel Builders are proud to announce their first-ever college scholarship for the 2015 school year. It is their hope that this $1,000.00 scholarship will make a big difference towards helping one student achieve his or her dreams. The scholarship is available to college students and high school students entering college. Entry close date is December 30th, 2014. Winner will be chosen January 15, 2015.

About Excel Builders Scholarship

Few industries are as close to the changing way that people live their lives as home construction. We’ve seen amazing changes in the way people live their lives since we started in this business, in everything from style to comfort and efficiency. We know that new life-changing innovations are always just around the corner. Who better to tell us about the homes of the future than the nation’s students? Your mission, should you choose, is to prepare an essay on one of the following topics:

  1.      Luxury Topic: With Companies Like Nest Popping Up, Home Design and Customization Has Never Been So Interesting. What Features would You Like to See on the Homes of the Future?
  2.      Sustainability Topic: Environmentally Friendly Home Building is a Hot Topic. How Can We, As Potential Home Buyers, Come to the Aid of our Planet?
  3.      Novelty Topic: Oh no! A zombie plague has swept across the land. Tell us about the defensive and comfortable features of your post-apocalyptic pad.

Learn about the good work we are doing in Maryland and Delaware.

Scholarship Entry

Apply here: scholarship entry form

See official scholarship rules

Diwali

October 25, 2014

Date: October 24, 2014

MSBAPM hosted a Diwali event, a Hindu festival, that was celebrated this year on October 24th. GBLC’s Observation deck was decorated with lights and craft throughout. “Housie,” a tradition game in India similar to bingo was played and prizes were given out. There were two amazing dance performances and a solo singer who performed that night. The evening concluded with all attendees dancing and enjoying traditional Indian food.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Visits Connecticut, Talks Leadership

October 24, 2014

WNPR News – The nation’s highest-ranking military officer delivered the keynote address at this year’s Geno Auriemma Leadership Conference organized by UConn School of Business. U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke about the tenets of leadership that exist in both the military and civilian world.

Costa Rica Immersion Experience: Company Tours

October 23, 2014

On March 13 – 21, BCLC students will embark on their journey to Costa Rica. During this time they will have the opportunity to visit a number of  Costa Rican companies such as: Grupo ICE & Carton Surfboard Factory.

As soon as students land in Costa Rica, they will travel to a Costa Rican company.  There they will meet with an executive level representative. Students will enjoy a presentation on Finance & Accounting, followed by a panel discussion and tour of the facilities. Proceeding the presentation, lunch will be served.

Day 2, students will make their to another Costa Rican campny. They meet with an executive level representative. Students will enjoy a presentation on Marketing followed by  a panel discussion and tour of the factory.

For more information about the trip please click the following link…

Costa Rica Immersion Trip Details

UConn Doubling Capacity to Cultivate Business Startups

October 20, 2014

UConn Today – A new construction project now underway on the UConn Health campus, funded by Bioscience Connecticut, will double the University’s total business incubator space for the cultivation of startups throughout the state. Timothy Folta, faculty director of the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the UConn School of Business, notes that incubators provide a variety of benefits to both the startup companies and the University.

Call for Participation: Spring 2015 Innovation Accelerator

CCEI is excited to announce the re-launch of the Innovation Accelerator for the Spring 2015 semester!

We are now seeking applications from students interested in earning experiential learning credit through this program. After an interview process, students will be selected to form interdisciplinary teams and assigned a consulting assignment from a Connecticut-based startup or early stage company. For more information about the program, click on the Innovation Accelerator tab in the menu on this homepage. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

A Textbook Model of Dividend Predictability

October 18, 2014

Seeking Alpha – It stands to reason that a value investor should examine any potential investment based upon ALL metrics, especially the methods that are the most meaningful for dividend investors. The simplest model for valuing equity is the dividend discount model – the value of a stock is the present value of expected dividends on it.