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Introducing Guest Blogger Katy Moyer

It is my pleasure to welcome my first guest blogger, Katy Moyer. Katy is getting her second degree here at Cornell. Although one of the youngest members of this AMBA class, she has proved to be such a leader that we elected her to be our representative on the Johnson School Student Council along with Pat Collopy. Since elected, Katy and Pat have brought many of AMBA-specific concerns to the attentions of the Dean and other leaders of the Johnson School. After the fall semester started, they organized several social and career events to help the AMBA class network with students in the two-year program. Last Thursday's "Know Your AMBA Colleagues" Sage Social was a big hit among all students and staff members. We all had fun chewing down delicious food and playing a game of "AMBA Human Bingo". I attached the bingo cards at the end of the blog. You can see what a wonderful and fun bunch we are. Oh, by the way, Katy is an excellent golfer!

Hi everyone! My one minute bio: I’m originally from North Carolina and have a degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell. Before coming to business school I was working for a company in Cape Cod in Massachusetts which designed and built underwater robots to map the ocean floor. I’m coming back to business school to learn how to speed robotic technology development in the defense industry. I want to get robots out of the lab and into the field to save human lives. In addition to playing with robots, I love playing golf and volleyball preferably on or near a beach. Patrick and I are very excited about representing the fantastic AMBA group in student council. We’re currently focusing on getting the group fully exposed to the two year students including those who comprise the bulk of our marvelous 2010 class! We are cooking up some creative plans for the fall. Hopefully you’ll hear about them through Alex soon!

I am officially second year!

I am officially a second year! Back from the two-week summer break, I entered the hustling and bustling Sage Hall and couldn't help wondering "Is this the same quiet and leisurely Sage we spent the whole summer in?"

All my AMBA classmates are back tanned and relaxed. Some are sporting new hairdos for the upcoming corporate briefings and recruiting events. We exchanged stories of the Hamptons, the Cape and Miami. Michel spent two weeks on the beaches of Mallorca in Spain, and has the tan to prove it. A dozen of them came back early from their break to be facilitators of Johnson Outdoor Experience for first years. Hats off to them!!

It is very exciting to see some first years I first met at Destination Johnson back in April (wow, it feels like eons ago). I am glad they made the decision to come to Johnson. I first met Vivek at DJ, and now he is a fellow Johnson blogger! Randall sent out an email of the profile of the Class of 2011. They are an impressive group. I am proud to announce China is well represented in this class. This group of 12 brilliant and accomplished students more than doubled the number of last year's class.

I had a hard time deciding what courses I am taking. There are so many interesting electives taught by the outstanding faculty at the Johnson School. We also have the choice to dabble in thousands of courses available at Cornell. I am taking Operations, Macroeconomics, Management Writing, and Cases in Venture Financing at the Johnson School, and Health Care Finance Management at the College of Human Ecology. I also audited a few more courses at the Hotel School across the street from Sage Hall. It was tough to drop some of these courses to fit the 18 credit hour cap.

I look forward to the next nine months at the Johnson School. General Electric led off the corporate briefings on September 9th. We have had seventeen since then, including J. P. Morgan, Citi, American Express, Intel, Proctor and Gamble, Unilever, and Deloitte. My goals for this fall semester are: do well in recruiting, network with the 2-year classmates, learn business skills in the electives, and break 100 on the beautiful Robert T. Jones Golf Course.

Summer Break in California

Chilling on the Santa Cruz Beach, no a worry in the world. Man, life is beautiful!

Cricket!

Cricket is an interesting game. After the Strategy final, we all gather at the parking lot behind the P&C for a cricket match. Except for one Irish and the South Asian gang, we didn't know anything about the game. I looked up on Wikipedia with my iPhone, it looks much more sophisticated than baseball.

We newbies learned the rules while playing. My swing was awkward, and I almost threw my arm off trying to bowl (pitch). Juan and Nathan, though, looked like a natural with a bat in their hands. At the end, I misplayed Drew Lee's popup at the second match, leading to the most exciting finish in cricket: the last batsman faced the last ball with a one-run deficit. Drew came through and hit a liner to the left for a two run walk-off shot!

Patrick bowling for the first time as Shobhit, Jinen, Gavin, David and Imran looking on

Cricket is one of the most popular game in our class. Imran Yousuf is going to start the Johnson School Cricket Club. Upon official approval, it will be the first club started by this AMBA class. Kudos to Imran for the initiative and leadership! I'll be the first to sign on.

Cricket is not the only sport we participate. We are probably one of the most social and active AMBA classes. Although our schedules are filled with course work, career activities, and projects, we have taken advantage of the summer in Ithaca playing soccer, football, freebies, jogging, swimming, and of course, golfing as much as we can.

They wish their game were as good as their looks (L-R): Saurobh, David, Jimmy (class photgrapher), Pavan, Drew, Raj, Shang Yan, and Brian.

The EISS Program

Little did I know, a number of first year MBA students are already on campus. They are in the Cornell English for International Students and Scholars (EISS) program, a six-week, full-time English intensive English language program at Cornell. It also provides academic, social, and cultural orientation to the United States and its institutions.

I was invited to its International Dinner and Culture Sharing Night at Maplewood Community Center, where the students served ethnic food and educated one another on their own cultures. The room filled with laughter and excitement, and of course, the aroma of yummy food. I had an opportunity to speak with a number of students and instructors, who are among the nicest people I've ever met. Mary Redmond, Director of the program, kindly forwarded web links to this program:

http://lrc.cornell.edu/english/eiss/Welcome
http://www.sce.cornell.edu/exec/eiss/summer/index.php

The Johnson School has a vigorous core curriculum in the first semester. Some international students have to adjust to the new life and a new language very quickly. EISS offers an opportunity to make the transition smoothly. Kelvin Chen is an incoming first year MBA from China I met at the party. He told me EISS gave him a jump start. Following is quoted form his email to me (you can see he now writes better than I do):

a. EISS is very useful to international students especially those who has no any idea about how American College runs;

b. It provides 6 weeks lessons focusing on Presentation(very important to B-school students), Listening/Speaking, and Writing(you will learn how to use the tremendous resources of Cornell library). You will do a lot practice on that such as writing research paper, making presentation every week, listening logs;

c. Getting familiar with all resources in Campus, your classmates(Johnson students are the majority of EISS program);

d. You will get a lot extra-curriculum activities: interesting lectures arranged by Summer School every week(presented by very famous people), concert, Tourist Trip arranged by ISSO;

e. Settling down yourself more easily before the opening of Fall semester;

f. It's a great time enjoying Ithaca's summer season.

A number of international students are required or recommended to enroll in this program. The tuition is $3,375. In my opinion, all incoming MBA students whose native language is not English should give it a try. It is well worth it.

Instructors and some of the international students at EISS

A Wonderful Break from the Classes

(I wrote this three weeks ago, but didn't post in time. I apologize for the delay.)

The Fourth of July Saturday was the first day since we started the program, there wasn't anything scheduled on my Outlook calendar. I went over to the Commons to soak in all the holiday spirit before having an excellent lunch at Moosewood. The house salad was a little plain, but the North African split pea soup and multigrain baguette were made to perfection. This restaurant is the pride of Ithaca, known for its healthy, natural vegetarian gourmet cuisine. It's located at the Dewitt Mall, a renovated historic brick school building in Downtown. The place was filled with relaxed, happy people. Quite a few of them stayed around the lobby and purchased souvenirs and the world-famous Moosewood cook books, which I strongly recommend.


In the afternoon I joined in a group of classmates to the Treman State Park just a few miles from the campus. There are more than 100 waterfalls and gorges around Ithaca. We have explored Taughannock Falls and Buttermilk Falls. The Lucifer Falls at the Treman Park was just as impressive. As we hiked up the winding, wooded 3-mile trail along the gorges, there was a beautiful waterfall at every turn. The scenic gorges however looked completely different on our way down from the other side. When we reached the Enfield Glen at the Lower Park, Pat cooled himself off by diving into the 62 degree water and swimming to the foot of the waterfall. I chickened out.

The highlight of the day was a trip to Americana Winery, one of Nicu's favorite. The winery is 15 minute drive away just off 96. Although the winery was closed for the holiday, we were treated with a warm welcome and an excellent meal at the Cafe. Michel, a sales manager at Wines of Chile before coming to Cornell, is the wine expert in our class. In his opinion, due to the weather in the Finger Lake area, the local whites have better quality than the reds. At the dinner table, the Riesling was a little sweet for my taste, but the Cayuga White was fantastic. The food was even better. It was the best meal I had since I left California. The salmon was great, and the "lamburger" I had was delicious!

Chilling at the winery (L-R): Kamel, Drew, Katy, Sophie, Yours Truly, Pat and Nicu.

I wish we could have more time to experience the summer in Ithaca, to explore the many parks, trails, and wineries in the Finger Lake area. The holiday weekend was a well-deserved break from our studies. I was recharged and ready for the second half of our summer schedule.

End of the First Month

We just finished Financial Accounting and Microeconomics finals this Tuesday. Today marks the start of the second month of the Cornell AMBA program. It has been a blur and I am still trying to catch my breath after a month jam-packed with course work, career group activities, and other social events. Through all this, we have formed a strong bond among 42 classmates. I am fortunate to know several of them very well, in spite of the fact that we were half a world apart just a month ago. A number of my classmates kindly agreed to be guest bloggers to Saba's and my blogs. So you will get to know them too.

I will offer my impressions of Cornell, the Johnson School, the AMBA program and the town of Ithaca in later blogs. Today I will try to address an issue on a lot of current, former and prospective students' minds: the Johnson School's US News rankings. The Cornell AMBA program was my No. 1 choice all along. The school, the faculty and the alumni network are still the same, if not stronger today than a year ago when Cornell was ranked three spots higher. The sorry economy and tough job market have blown anything negative, real or perceived, out of proportion. Nevertheless, in the casual conversations and formal feedback sessions with the school administrators and faculty, students have brought up this topic rather frequently.

I spoke with Johnson School staff. The response was Cornell certainly will not make any drastic changes just to pander to a news magazine ranking. The School, however, looks into the ranking methodology and data very closely, and will move to address any issues exposed in these rankings. I completely agree with the Johnson School's approach. In the meantime, I do feel a sense of urgency among the Johnson School community. This is on the agenda of an internal committee. I have full confidence it will be taken care of very quickly.

There are murmurings that the Johnson School will move part of its executive programs to New York City. I think it's a step in the right direction. The common knock on Cornell is its location. I love the campus, and I love Ithaca and its surroundings. But for the MBA students who want to get into Banking, Asset Management or other finance jobs (more than half of the class), it is a hassle to make frequent trips to NYC. The driving distance from Ithaca to NYC is the same as from Washington, DC. I spoke with several classmates and batted around a crazy idea (Hey I am a scientist, that's what I do:)) Cornell should open a mini-campus in New York City. The Investment Banking and Asset Management Immersion Programs have their Week in New York and Trek to New York City. Why not open a more permanent facility that both the MBA and the Executive MBA could use. The Fulltime MBA could have a two or three week session at the new location. A number of finance courses can be taught there. It might also open the door for a part-time MBA program, where the only competition is Langone MBA Program of NYU. In the short term, the Johnson school would announce its strong presence at the center of the financial world; while in the long term, this could build long lasting relationships with more potential employers and sponsors. At the beginning the "mini-campus" can be shared with Weill Cornell in Upper East Side of Manhattan, until a permanent facility could be build with endowment and donations.

It certainly would cost a lot of money. Having faculty members and 200 students living in Manhattan for a few weeks could be a logistical nightmare. This is just one man's opinion. Dean Thomas and other University leadership have more feasible grand plans for the Johnson School and Sage Hall. In his Strategic Plan, Dean Thomas laid out six initiatives, including facilities in New York City. Cornell and the Johnson School will continue to be a strong Ivy League brand and an innovative program for the students, the faculty and the alumni.

Alex Zhang

My career as a medicinal chemist started at Texas A & M University, where I carried out research on the mechanisms and treatment of Alzheimer's diseases. After receiving my Ph.D. degree, I joined a biotech start-up in to develop cancer-diagnosing DNA-chip technology. For the last seven plus years, I have focused on finding new therapies for cancer, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases at Amgen San Francisco. These multidisciplinary projects have provided opportunities for me to learn both the science and the business of drug discovery. Finally, I decided my career had reached a point that I am ready to jump into an entrepreneurial endeavor. A well rounded business education will help me make it a smooth transition. The AMBA program at the Johnson School is a perfect fit.

Two weeks into this program, I have been overwhelmingly impressed by the School as well as my classmates. Although it is a challenge to fit all the activities and course work into a 16 hour-day, we did find time to get to know each other better, and managed to play two soccer matches (losers buy drinks the next Friday)! I look forward to enjoying the great outdoors and golf courses in the Finger Lake area during the summer.

One year is a short time. But there will be plenty of challenges and rewards. I am glad to share my experience with you in this space.