GSC Menlo College Students G BIG in Scaling Challenge

A team of Menlo College students—Mary Antonette Reyes ’25, Bryan Zaremba ’23, Paul Breuer ’25, and Anthea Weiland ’25 —emerged as the Gold Medal winner of the prestigious Global Scaling Challenge 2023 hosted by the University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management. Out of 35 teams from 25 universities across the world, against graduates and fellow undergraduates, Menlo College outperformed the competition by offering expert consultancy to three space-tech startups, providing recommendations on scaling their businesses.

Mentored by Dr. Fabian Eggers, Professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, the team conducted extensive research on the AI and space industry to analyze the growth potential of RS21, a data science company that uses artificial intelligence to improve data-based decision-making; Proof Labs, offering cyber-security; and IDEAS Engineering & Technology, providing digital design and embedded systems engineering services to the defense and space industries. The team identified the most effective strategies for each of these companies to help them expand.

Mary Reyes explains, “Our team prioritized even the smallest details to tell a compelling story of how each startup could experience immense growth through our scaling plan.”

Menlo College shared first place with the University of Denver and enjoyed the excitement of learning from each other’s best work. Mary Reyes says, “This competition has truly showcased the brightest future of the industry, and we are honored to be a part of it.”

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in April, Menlo College’s Pacific Islander Club hosted its annual lū’au, no longer interrupted by Covid. Hundreds of participants came to the quad to eat traditional pūpūs and watch students enacting the intricate story dances of the islands. Those who learned the beautiful moves during childhood performed alongside students who have picked up the skills since joining the club. Thank you to the Pacific Islander Club for spreading aloha across the campus quad!

Associate Professor Sergey Anokhin had a paper entitled “CEO Duality and Tenure, and the Adoption of Goal Ambidexterity in Corporate Venture Capital” accepted by the Journal of Business Venturing Insights. Based on a study of corporate venture capital investments, the paper explores the factors leading to goal ambidexterity.

Professor Emerita of Marketing Stephanie Dellande co-wrote an editorial entitled “Fulfilling Jerome’s Legacy” on Jerome Williams’ legacy in the field of consumer research. She also collaborated on “Moving beyond Perceptions: Examining Service Disparities among Consumers” as a part of her co-edited special issue on Racism and Discrimination in the Marketplace for the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research.

Associate Professor Ruixue Du’s article titled “CFO Education on the Choice of Earnings Management” was accepted for publication by the Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance.

Adjunct Professor Zaki Hasan was honored at the San Francisco Press Club’s 45th Annual Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards. Two of his articles that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle won awards in the “Newspapers-Daily: Editorial” and “Newspapers-Daily: Entertainment Review” categories.

Associate Professor Lan Jiang’s recent work entitled “Effects of the anthropomorphic image of intelligent customer service avatars on consumers’ willingness to interact after service failure” was published in the Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing in March. As AI language technology is making rapid breakthroughs, its application in marketing, e.g. in a customer service chatbot is also evolving into a new phase. Jiang’s research examines how the design of the AI avatar can facilitate consumer experience.

Assistant Professor Jakob Kotas worked with Priscilla Perey Ratonel ’25 on a research project beginning in January of 2023. They attended the Alpha Chi Convention 2023 in Albuquerque, New Mexico this spring. Priscilla presented the talk “Covid Campus Simulation: Predicting and Modeling SIR Populations as Preventative Policies are Implemented Over Time” and won the Joseph E. and Bessie Mae Pryor Prize for Best Presentation in Mathematics.

Professor Dima Leshchinskii was featured in a WalletHub piece about business credit cards with rewards. He also invited venture capitalist Ajay Chopra to present in his Entrepreneurial Finance course this spring.

Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor Melissa Michelson was featured in Diverse Issues in Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed in articles about youth voter turnout and her work with the Student Vote Research Network. She was interviewed about elections and political issues by KTVU-FOX 2, KGO-ABC 7, and Noticias Telemundo, and various newspapers including The Washington Post, The Sacramento Bee, and The Los Angeles Times. She also served as the live election night political analyst for KTVU on November 8, 2022.

In December 2022, Michelson co-wrote an article in The Washington Post about President Joe Biden’s marijuana policy. In February 2023, Michelson was named to the American Board of Academic Deans.

Associate Professor Lisa Mendelman became the new faculty advisor for the Alpha Chi Honor Society. She also gave an invited talk “Green Skinned Goddesses: Chlorosis and the Shapeshifting Modern Girl in Science and Literature” at the Science Studies Colloquium at the University of California, San Diego this June.

Visiting Professor Pablo Paredes Romero was invited to speak at the third annual City of Ceres Bridging the Gap resource business event, where he led a workshop on starting a business.

Lecturer Lakiba Pittman (left) held a Mindful Self-Compassion talk for the Stanford Hospital Department of Pediatrics’ Endocrinology retreat and presented for the newest student cohort of Stanford’s School of Design. She also led a four-week Compassion Cultivation Training for Stanford’s Health Living Program this spring and another training for the Compassion Institute. Pittman appeared at The Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco to read her poems from the book “Black Fire This Time” in a Black History Month celebration alongside other poets in February.

Assistant Professor Melissa Eriko Poulsen attended the annual conference of the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA). She presented her co-written article “‘I Was Unlike All Other Girls’: Water & Reimagined Femininity in Lisa Ko’s The Leavers.” The article examines the novel’s use of water metaphors to represent the perils and the possibilities faced by an undocumented Chinese mother in the United States. At the next PAMLA conference, Dr. Poulsen will serve as the presiding officer for all Asian American Literary and Cultural Studies panels.

Associate Professor Sean Pradhan took on the role of Faculty Assessment Coordinator in the School of Business for the Spring 2023 semester. He also had two research projects published and four others that were accepted for presentation.

“Using experiments in sport consumer behavior research: A review and directions for future research” was published in Sport Marketing Quarterly. Co-written with colleagues from the NASA Ames Research Center, “Sex differences in perceptions of sleep inertia following nighttime awakenings” can be found in SLEEP Advances.

Director of Institutional Effectiveness Dr. Kristina Powers published the third edition of Organization & Administration in Higher Education. This edition features a chapter by Vice President for Academic Affairs, Chief Academic Officer, and Dean of the School of Business Dr. Mouwafac Sidaoui. The book is available on amazon.com.

Adjunct Professor Jonathan Reichental ran smart city workshops in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November 2022, to help the national electricity company understand the role of smart cities in the future of their business. In December 2022, he released Data Governance for Dummies, which became the top new release on Amazon, and in the same month, he hosted the 10-year ASAN celebration in Baku, Azerbaijan.

At the beginning of 2023, Reichental delivered workshops in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He also released Cryptocurrency QuickStart Guide, which became the top new release on Amazon. Additionally, Reichental worked with a national telecommunications company to create a strategy around the use of the Internet-of-Things and spoke at the World Government Summit in Dubai, UAE in February. That same month, he gave a talk at New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington’s Faculty of Architecture and Design. Recently, he became an advisor to the government of Singapore.