UB School of Management undergrads present their projects—virtually

By Kevin Manne

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Persevering through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, University at Buffalo School of Management students made their pitches virtually for this year’s Undergraduate Management Poster Competition.

Using video and presentation technology, undergraduates shared posters highlighting their research, social innovation and applied learning activities. Students submitted their videos on April 20, and a panel of judges selected winners on April 24. 

On the research side, business administration majors Cerlina Lin and Alexa Schmidichen of Queens, Joel Mclean-Fisher of Westchester, and Taylor Lasomser of New York City took top honors and a $1,000 prize for their project “The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Care Systems.” The team analyzed the efficiency of the universal health care system in Costa Rica during the coronavirus crisis, compared to the U.S. health care system.

For Best Social Innovation Poster, information technology and management major Zay Ya Min Yin of Buffalo and business administration major Cameron Hotto of Victor won a $1,000 prize for their project, “Shifting the Paradigm of Athletic Business.” After finding that more than 70% of children quit sports due to a lack of resources, they developed an app to facilitate fundraising and support those players.

Best Applied Experience Poster went to business administration major Emma Cremean of East Amherst for her presentation, “Born in North Korea: An American Tale.” She and her brother, Noah, presented a poster that explored the impact of decreasing the annual number of refugees who are allowed to resettle in the U.S. Cremean received a $1,000 prize and will donate half to Doctors Without Borders to aid in refugee assistance.

Best Global Experience Poster and a $1,000 prize was awarded to four accounting students; Kirsten Byman of Buffalo, Ben Makosy of West Seneca, Mary Kate Smith of Hamburg and Milad Ghanatios of Rochester. Their poster, “Cocoa Beans to Bars—The Ghanaian Experience,” recounted the group’s visit to The Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana an extrapolated how their process can be applied to chocolate companies around the world.