UB School of Management undergrads present accomplishments at DEAL Expo

By Matthew Biddle

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Sixteen undergraduates in the University at Buffalo School of Management showcased their best research and experiential learning projects during the fourth annual DEAL Expo, allowing them to reflect on their accomplishments and sharpen their presentation skills before commencement in May.

At the DEAL (Display of Efforts, Aptitudes and Leadership) Expo, held during UB’s spring open house on April 2, undergraduates presented posters describing their experiential learning opportunities or research they conducted with a faculty member.

Matthew Ricotta, a business administration senior from Darien Center, won first place and a $750 prize in the Best Research Poster category for his finance project, “An Examination of Global Expropriation Episodes and Foreign Direct Investment.”

Through the semester-long project, Ricotta learned data collection, research methodology, regression analysis and other research skills, which he says will be critical when he starts as an analyst in the internal audit division at Morgan Stanley this summer.

“My goal is to someday work internationally or in a global context, so performing research on an important issue has given me a great deal of knowledge on the challenges of conducting business worldwide,” he says. “The DEAL Expo brought this experience full circle and helped me recognize the skills I gained from that experience.”

Ricotta’s faculty mentor, Veljko Fotak, assistant professor of finance in the UB School of Management, was named Undergraduate Mentor of the Year at the event.

Taking second place and a $500 prize for the Research Poster category was the five-person team of Nicole Hunter of Hurley; Siddharth Khandelwal of Uttar Pradesh, India; Ian Scaduto of Clarence; Alan Spoth of Amherst; and Jon Voyzey of Grand Island. The team presented a meta-analysis of leadership characteristics in men and women.

The Best Experiential Learning Poster award and a $750 prize went to Jaime Archer of Brewerton and Jacob Schupbach of Clarence Center for “Social University,” about interning with the university’s social media team on the #IconicUB campaign, developing UB’s Snapchat channel and tracking analytics.

“This was my second year participating in the DEAL Expo, and each year the competition has been an engaging learning experience that has allowed me to test my career interests,” says Schupbach, a business administration junior in the school’s Honors program. “I’m currently interested in moving forward with social media in the entertainment industry, where being able to distinguish myself from others through well-developed presentation and collaboration skills will be essential for success.”

Rohan Kapoor of North Babylon, Tamana Ranka of Tamil Nadu, India, and Matthew Weiner of Manilus came in second in the Experiential Learning category. They took home a $500 prize for their poster, “A Day in the Undergraduate Learning and Community Center.”

Kapoor won a second $500 prize and the Open House Choice Award, a special honor chosen by attendees at UB’s spring open house, for another project he entered. Titled “A Summer in the Car Business,” his poster described how he applied his School of Management coursework to his real-world work experience as a car salesman on Long Island for two summers.

“The DEAL Expo is a great opportunity to network, showcase your experiences and brush up on your presentation skills,” Kapoor says. “Through talking with many prospective students and their families, I was able to share my experiences and reflect on all the great things I was able to do in the School of Management. I look forward to applying my UB experience to my career.”

The judges for this year’s DEAL Expo were Claudia Qi, assistant professor of accounting and law; Sheila Toomb, assistant director, Office of Internships and Experiential Learning; and Phillip Wool, assistant professor of finance.