A recent event held by UTDsolv at the Naveen Jindal School of Management showcased projects in which teams of seniors collaborated throughout semester with industry professionals. Students utilized the knowledge and skills acquired in their undergraduate academic careers to solve real-world business problems.
The inaugural UTDsolv Capstone Expo Event at the Jindal School celebrated the accomplishments of the fall 2023 UTDsolv Capstone students. The top 12 projects were presented, and awards were given to the top three during the Dec. 13 event.
UTDsolv is a business platform that develops innovative solutions to real-life business problems, particularly when companies have no available time and resources to devote to finding answers. The program connects companies with talented undergraduate business students who also are future entrepreneurs and leaders. Students work on projects throughout the semester in small groups as part of their capstone senior project and under the guidance of our faculty and company advisors. The program is a requirement for all JSOM senior students.
At the Jindal School, we are very focused on preparing our students to contribute from day one,” said Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Caruth Chair and Jindal School dean. “Our professors educate, and project-based education is important to get them ready. (UTDsolv) is the course where we put the finishing touches on our students before they go out into their professional careers.”
First place and $2,000 was awarded to the Prosper Police Department project team, which created a system for the police department to analyze their crime data and an interactive visualization to help communicate the information in their monthly reports.
Second-place honors and $1,500 went to the McLaren Automotive project team who focused on determining ways to turbo-charge the company’s customer retention rate.
Third place and $1,000 was awarded to the project team who worked for a digital technology services company, PriceSenz. The focus was to create a seamless user experience for recruiters and candidates using ChatGPT-like capabilities and facilitate effortless matchmaking between talent resumes and available jobs.
Judges were Kenya Allen, senior manager of HR at Lennox International; Lucie Anderson, senior director of Pricing Operations at Quest Diagnostics; Adam Camarena, director of operations at Steris Corp. and Ray Hemmig, chairman of Restaurant & Retail Growth Capital and chairman of the advisory council for JSOM’s RISE Center. Hemmig is also a member of the Jindal School’s Advisory Council.
Since the beginning of UTDsolv, students have worked with 263 companies on projects valued at more than $7 million.
“(Project-based programs) are common in engineering, but not in business,” said Dr. Dawn Owens, associate dean of undergraduate programs at the Jindal School and a clinical professor in the Information Systems Area. “We appreciate all our sponsors, which include repeat sponsors. That says a lot about the program. Our students can put this on their résumés, and some have told me that once a company they’ve applied to sees that, it is all they want to talk about. We want employers to seek us out to be a part of the program.”
Judges at the expo, who represented companies that have worked with students in UTDsolv, agreed that for the companies and the students, the program is mutually beneficial.
“It is a resource for the companies and the students learn about real-world companies,” Anderson said. “The program also allows us to build relationships. Even if those students go somewhere else, we always have the relationship formed by working together on these projects.”
“Lennox is a neighbor of the Jindal School, and it makes sense for us to partner with them,” Allen said. “We are the longest-term company in the program, and it has been a positive experience. We have found a lot of talent here and many of the leaders in our company were educated here.”
According to Dr. David R. Parks, assistant dean of capstone projects at the Jindal School and a professor of practice in its Operations Management Area, the program was an elective before transitioning to a required class.
Many companies that partner with UTDsolv often go on to hire the students they have worked with, said Camarena. Now with Steris Corp., he previously worked for McKesson, which hired nine of the students while he was there.
When asked why companies should partner with the Jindal School, Hemmig’s response was, “Why wouldn’t they? There are 475 National Merit Scholars on this campus and companies always have something that needs to be done that they do not have the time to do. The entire experience is mutually beneficial.”
Stanley Samuel, portfolio director at McKesson, is part of the next cohort in the program.
“I attended the presentations and was impressed by all of the projects,” he said. “My topic for next semester is AI automation. We want to expose the students to what the market is looking for (when they hire).”
After hearing about UTDsolv at a Tech Titans event, Constance An, a co-worker who is also a lecturer in the Jindal School, told Dillon Mahipala, transformation leader for North America at Ericsson about the program.
The project with Ericsson required that students develop a successful employee induction and retention strategy for the company. Mahipala said he was surprised by the detail of their presentation.
“They included a lot of information in 10 minutes,” he said. “I liked their approach. They did research and designed a program that could be used to tell a company things (that) employees in, for example, India would prefer.”
Having the opportunity to work for a real-world company is one of the biggest benefits to the UTDsolv program for finance major Jason Garcia. He was part of the group that worked on the WebCE Product Analysis project.
“This allows us to see real work culture,” he said. “We want to feel that we’re part of the company.”
Among the clients at the Expo was a student group from Allen High School. Lauren Juric, Aadi Patel, Anay Agarwal, Arjun Chaudhry and Carson Sheffield, all juniors, are launching an online resource (FEDA Education) to teach young people about finance and help them manage their money.
“I sent emails out to all of the area colleges about our program and UT Dallas was one of the only ones that responded,” said Juric. “I was surprised by how quickly they answered.”
They have been working on their program for about six months and have had five projects at the Jindal School focused on designing their website and creating a curriculum for their program.
Farina Razzano, contract manager at U.S. Renal Care, attended the event to support her company’s team. Their project was Maintenance and Repair Optimization.
“It was very interesting to work with the students,” Razzano said. “They always have a ‘ready-to-go’ attitude.”
Parks said that during the past few years, nearly 2,500 students have worked to successfully complete 342 client-sponsored projects.
“We could not accomplish this without the continued strong support of the client companies who work with our JSOM students, faculty, and staff,” he said. “Thanks to everyone for their interest and support of UTDsolv.”
