New and returning finance and managerial economics students at the Naveen Jindal School of Management began their spring semester with a Finance Lab Kickoff Event that featured insights from alumni guest speakers and an introduction to lab resources tailored to their professional development.
Dr. Liping Ma, a clinical assistant professor in the Finance and Managerial Economics Area and head of the finance lab, and student lab staff members presented the workshop.
The lab offers a range of business databases for students and faculty to access. Its primary objective is to cultivate students’ interest in finance, bolster their knowledge of financial assets and markets, integrate technological advancements into the curriculum, and enhance students’ computational and quantitative skills.
Ma and the lab staff provide research support and tutoring for undergraduate and graduate students, and organize financial database training, workshops, and competitions.
“We like to give a warm welcome to the returning and incoming students,” Ma said. “At the workshop, we introduced them to the lab resources such as Bloomberg, Capital IQ, LSEG Workspace, Factsets and others. Those financial platforms and certification programs give our students a competitive edge in the job market.”
Miguel Limongi, MBA’16, MS’18, director of finance for the central region of logistics real estate firm Prologis, and Ashna Agarwal, MS’22, a financial analyst at Prologis, served as guest speakers.
Prologis is a real estate firm that manages over $200 billion in assets and owns properties spanning 1.2 billion square feet across four continents. The company offers real estate operations, development and acquisitions, strategic capital ventures, and the Essentials Platform to its clients. Some of Prologis’s well-known clients include Amazon, Home Depot, FedEx and DHL.
Limongi, who completed his Executive MBA in 2016 and an MS in real estate finance in 2018 from the Jindal School, talked to students about Prologis and its business. He gave them a brief history of the company and explained how it operates. Limongi started his career at Prologis as an accountant in El Paso in 1997. After a break, he rejoined the company in 2019.
Touting the opportunities available in the lab, he emphasized the importance of interacting with other students, faculty and staff.
“When you gather here, you drive innovation with the exchange of ideas,” he said. “At Prologis, we do the same thing.”
Agarwal, who received a master’s degree in finance from JSOM in 2022 and joined Prologis in May 2023, presented an overview of the company’s operations in the various regions in which it operates across the globe. She also emphasized the benefits of the lab.
“As a student, I worked in the lab. I used to study here and also worked in the tutoring lab,” she said.
Limongi added that he hired Agarwal because he had gone through the same program she had at JSOM and knew how hard it was.
“When I learned she made good grades in this program I knew she would be good,” he said.
In addition to financial databases, the lab assists students with the material covered in introductory finance courses. Academic activities supported by the lab include classroom instruction, video conferences, special presentations and events, database and tech training sessions and simulation trading games.
Many of the students in attendance, including Simret Balcha, is a finance and business administration graduate student, were new to the finance program and eager to learn about all the lab had to offer.
“I shifted my major and I am hoping to use these resources to help me learn more about finance,” she said.
Lab staff member and finance graduate student Samiha Siddique, who along with finance graduate student Varsha B R served as co-master of ceremonies for the workshop, said the people are one of the best things about the lab.
“Everyone here is very helpful whenever I need anything,” she said. “Also, having access to real-time data is a huge help with my projects.”
Vikas Reddy, also a first-time visitor to the lab, is a finance graduate student.
“The finance lab will definitely help me in my studies,” he said, “as will being here with other people and being able to learn from them.”
Graduate school finance major Ravi Konda is interested in stock trading and believes the databases available to him in the lab will be a strong learning tool and will help prepare him for the future.
“I want to explore the markets and I am looking forward to working on the Bloomberg terminal,” he said. “It’s possible I may want to do day trading in the future.”
Workshop attendees were encouraged to participate in upcoming finance lab events, including FinHack 2024 scheduled for April 5-6.
“It will be a fun and interactive activity, giving students hands-on experience and an opportunity to network with professionals. I hope students will attend and participate,” Ma said.
The students were also told about the newly formed Quantitative Finance Club and encouraged to join. Organizers plan to provide educational resources, professional networks, workshops, guest lectures, trading competitions and other activities for members.
“Big kudos go out to our dedicated alumni for giving back to the community,” Ma said. “We are looking forward to a fantastic semester.”
