Posts by dowdenr
Celts Exploring Businesses – FedEx Facility Tour
On Friday March 23, 2018, I had the opportunity to tour one of Houston’s FedEx Facility with one of our very own alumni, John Sullivan. My peers and I were privileged to see shipping in action and learn how FedEx operates their business and facility to ensure that we get our packages in time. I…
Read MoreAdvocacy and Business: Gaining the Tools I Need
By Kate Folladori–Two primary conditions have defined my life since I was fourteen: epilepsy and chronic depression. They have impacted the way I interact with people, the way I think about my future, the way I see myself and my potential, and my day-to-day health and mobility. But recently, as with any other obstacle in…
Read MoreStudent Vision and Values: Hope in Our Future Leaders
By Dr. Anne S. Davis—I teach a Principles of Management to undergraduates in Business at the University of St. Thomas. In the course of my class, I focus on developing in my students the desire to be successful in whatever they choose. I prepare assignments to have them look inward and recognize their own personalities,…
Read MoreCognitive Biases and Rational Behavior
By Dr. Hassan Shirvani—As you might have heard, the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Richard Thaler for his pioneering work in the field of behavioral economics, a school of thought dedicated to the application of psychology to economics. The main point of this school is that humans are subject to too many…
Read MoreCanadian Crude Oil Blends
By Ali Oktay—Canadian crude oil blends are trading at steep discounts due to pipeline constraints. Let’s start with basics. In the chart below, you can see the different benchmark crudes lined up according to their API gravities. Canada is a major heavy oil producer, and WCS pricing has been recently hit by the pipeline constraints.…
Read MoreHow To Be Human At Work
By Dr. Michele Simms—In 1995, Daniel Goleman, an internationally known psychologist, authored the book Emotional Intelligence developing the argument that non-cognitive skills, not only IQ, can influence a person’s ability to succeed in the workplace. This seminal work has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide and is cited as one of the 25 “Most…
Read MoreProfiting from Harvey
By: Gavin Brown & Sajjad Meghani–Houston recently suffered from the onslaught of Harvey, a once-in-a-thousand-years flood which devastated large parts of the city. Given the dire situation in Houston and seeing an opportunity for profiteering, some individuals were quick to make money by taking advantage of those who had been adversely affected by this horrific…
Read MoreData Analytics: Transforming Data into Insights, Decisions, and Actions
By Dr. Pooya Tabesh—Substantial changes are underway in the business data analytics’ landscape. Digital data in the universe doubles every two years and the size of business-related data continues to grow exponentially. In line with these trends, the adoption rate of popular big data analytics tools, such as data mining, machine learning, and other artificial…
Read MoreEconomics of Vanity Sizing
By Wan-Ju Iris Franz, PhD—“Size inflation,” also known as “vanity sizing,” is a phenomenon where the measurements of the same label size have been growing over time (The Economist)[1]. For instance, size 14 in Sear’s 1937 catalogue has similar measurements as a size 8 in 1967, which is a size 0 in 2011.[2] In my…
Read MoreEmerging Leaders: New Directions for the Next Generation -Part 1
By Dr. Joseph Cerami—In this first blog post (part one of a two-part series), I want to pay attention to the next generation of leaders: the Millennials. I conducted a study at the Bush School of Government and Public Service of Texas A&M University entitled: “Developing Emerging Leaders: The Bush School and the Legacy of…
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