How Industry & Academia Can Work Together for Maximum Student Outcomes

Overview

We are talking to Shany Mahalu and Sam Borghese. We discuss how we can design projects that enable success on both the students and the industry standpoint. Finally, we wrap up the episode talking about the future of education, and how technology can enable change.

About Shany Mahalu 

Shany Mahalu Atiya is a higher education professional with an extensive experience designing, implementing, and leading graduate strategic initiatives and educational programs. She serves as the Senior Director, Corporate Engagement and External Relations for the Master of Quantitative Economics (MQE) at UCLA Department of Economics. She is responsible for generating and cultivating a corporate employer pipeline and nurturing meaningful relationships with corporations and industry leaders that position MQE students for success in the job market. Shany began her professional career at the Israeli Defense Forces, where she served as a Non-Commissioned Educational Officer and later as Director of Security Operations for the Israeli Airlines, El Al. After graduating from Pepperdine with a Master of Science in Organization Development in 2008, she further developed her passion for people and leadership, and started her journey as a higher education professional. In her tenure at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, she led the admissions, recruitment, career development, alumni, and employer relations efforts for the part-time and executive MBA/Master programs. Her passion for diversity and inclusion led her to design and facilitate military-connected career readiness programs and initiatives in collaboration with the Service Academy Career Conference (SACC) and the Amazon Military Event team. 

About Sam Borghese

Sam Borghese has designed and taught eight courses inside the Master of Quantitative Economics (MQE) at UCLA. This curriculum includes, Cloud Computing, Machine Learning in Finance and Blockchain. All course work is project-focussed to allow students to gain pragmatic experience in these fields. Another responsibility at UCLA that Sam has undertaken is advising applied projects. Companies that partner with the MQE layout a data-driven problem in which Sam assembles a team and walks students through potential solutions over an academic quarter. Prior to this, Sam was doing research with a former Economist at George Soros Fund creating models for forecasting asset prices. Both of them teamed up to create a Mock Fund that disseminates the signals for investment banks and other financial institutions to view. This project grew to be the UCLA Quant Lab, which Sam is the appointed Director of. Simultaneously Sam runs a Quant Hedge Fund that is up +30% net of fees in 2022.

Social Handles

Sam Borghese Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/samborghese
Shany Mahalu  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shany-mahalu-atiya-msod-a47831a/ 

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