University at Buffalo School of Management

4 Buffalo Business Spring 2019 Startups Inspiring girls to consider a future in STEM "Ctrl C!" shouts a group of middle school girls in unison. While moving through a series of obstacles, a UB student has suddenly gotten stuck, unable to move forward. The student, pre- tending to be a computer, can only move based on the exact instruc- tions the girls have provided, but their latest command was not specific enough, resulting in an error. By calling out "Ctrl C," the girls can stop the "computer," rethink their "programming" and issue a new set of instructions to complete the obstacles. The task was part of a series of workshops during the first- ever Girl Tech Day hosted by the School of Management in September. Sponsored by the UB President's Circle, the free event was open to girls 10-14 from across Western New York to introduce them to basic coding and programming skills. "We hoped to inspire young girls and show them all of the ave- nues they could pursue once they reach college," said Destiney Plaza, a master's student in manage- ment information systems, who spearheaded the event. "By the end of the day, partici- pants told us they would con- sider going into engineering or computer science in the future—that was amazing." Student volunteers from the School of Management and the Computer Science and Engineering Department helped run the day's activities. "Excitement about STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] has to be fostered at an early age," said Joana Gaia, clinical as- sistant professor of management science and systems, who co-found- ed Girl Tech Day with Plaza and fellow faculty member Sanjukta Das Smith. "The speed in which the girls grasped programming concepts was astounding, and parents particularly commented on how pow- erful it was for their daughters to learn those concepts from col- lege-aged women who actually apply those skills every day." Read more at mgt.buffalo.edu/girltechday18. x Bloomberg Businessweek debuts new MBA ranking Last fall, Bloomberg Businessweek released a brand new ranking of MBA programs. Coming in at No. 78, the School of Management remains solidly in the top 10 per- cent of more than 800 business schools accredited by AACSB International. The ranking was compiled based on surveys of stu- dents, alumni and employers. Under the new methodolo- gy, compensation is weighted at 38.5 percent, networking – 27.9 percent, learning – 23.1 percent, and entrepreneur- ship – 10.5 percent. Of particular significance is the school's No. 24 rank on learning —a fundamentally important part of its core mission of educating future leaders in business, and one of the most important components of success in today's economy. It is also noteworthy that in this critical learning component, the School of Management fared better than Cornell (No. 26), Wharton (No. 38), Harvard (No. 53) and NYU (No. 57). Closer to home, the school ranked high- er than University of Rochester's Simon (No. 45), Penn State's Smeal (No. 70) and Pittsburgh's Katz (No. 72). x TOP 10% BUSINESS SCHOOLS During one activity, participants held hands and had to figure out how to untangle themselves and form a circle, without letting go of one another. The girls' favorite activity was programming a Raspberry Pi to light an LED bulb. Photos: Destiney Plaza. 1 2 1 2

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