Weatherhead students meet executives in Silicon Valley as part of Veale Snyder Fellows program | Weatherhead School of Management

Article Date

November 02, 2023

Students stand in front of glass building

Four undergraduate students from the Weatherhead School of Management traveled to Silicon Valley in San Francisco, California, as part of the global technology management course led by Adjunct Professor Ram Fish.

The students in this course are in the Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship’s 2023-24 Veale Snyder Fellowship program, which consists of 12 students who applied and were selected from over 60 undergraduates at �ǿմ�ý.

While in Silicon Valley, the students visited with �ǿմ�ý alumni, toured offices and met with business leaders from a number of organizations, including Google, Meta, McKinsey & Co., AndGo by Goodyear, Nvidia, Tandem PV, AHOY Capital, Perfect Corp., KiwiCo, VLP Law Group and Oracle.

Favorite Company Visits

Students stand smiling in front of the sign at Google's offices in Silicon Valley

Genesis Richards, a second-year business management and economics student, described the visit to Google’s offices as “exceptionally influential.” What resonated with Richards the most was learning about Google's innovation-focused culture and how the company embraces emerging trends and is constantly expanding its horizons.

“This knowledge greatly resonated with me, as I have numerous ideas of my own,” she said. “Google's advice to tackle the most challenging aspects first, to understand the potential limitations and build upon existing ideas to enhance their value and feasibility, struck me as the best approach to materializing my own creative concepts.”

Walking around the NVIDIA demo room was like looking into the future, said Krishin Parikh, a second-year business management and computer science major.

“From hyper-realistic AI generated faces to 3D simulations and models, NVIDIA is enabling innovators in every industry,” Parikh said. “Seeing the startup-like culture of the one-plus-trillion-dollar giant made me question my preconceived notions of how a large company can be managed.”

Biggest Takeaways

Students take a selfie in Silicon Valley

The friendships made on the trip with other Veale Snyder Fellows, was one of the greatest takeaways for Richards.

“We would stay up late and prep questions for our interviews while cracking jokes,” she said. “When I interviewed for the [Veale] fellowship I mentioned how I wanted to gain insight from other fellows given their more technical background. So with their background influencing the questions they asked to company employees, I was able to learn about Generative artificial intelligence [AI] versus other AI, virtual reality versus augmented reality, cloud services, structured query language [SQL], pipelines in the context of data science, and much more.”

The spirit of innovation in Silicon Valley left a huge impression on Luciano Duca, a second-year student with a double major in business information technology and finance and a minor in applied data science.

“It was inspiring to see how technology giants and startups alike are pushing the boundaries of what's possible,” Duca said. “This experience underscored the significance of continuous learning and adaptability in the ever-evolving tech landscape, a lesson that I'll carry with me throughout my career.”

Duca added the strong sense of community and support among �ǿմ�ý alumni in Silicon Valley was inspiring.

“This was a powerful reminder of the valuable network that �ǿմ�ý provides, and it emphasized the importance of building strong relationships in the professional world,” he said.

Career Aspirations

Upon graduating in a couple of years, Duca hopes to work in a role that allows him to leverage technology and data-driven insights to make informed financial decisions and drive business growth.

“Whether it's in financial analysis, data analytics, or technology consulting, I want to play a part in shaping the future of business through the use of data and technology,” he said. “The trip to Silicon Valley has reaffirmed my commitment to this path, and I look forward to contributing to the dynamic landscape of business and technology.”

The trip also confirmed My Nguyen’s career goals. Nguyen, a third-year student majoring in economics with a minor in computer science, has long been passionate about beauty and skincare.

Last year, she stumbled upon Perfect Corp.’s website and was in awe of their beauty AI products. Now, one year later, “I was honored to have the chance to meet Wayne Liu, Perfect Corp.'s CGO, and learn about the company's missions and visions,” she said.

After graduation, Nguyen said she wants to work in the health and beauty industry.

For Richards, she envisions a career path where she is leading projects aimed at sustainable food solutions to address the issue of food waste.

“Leveraging my background in economics and business, I aim to optimize resource allocation in this context,” Richards said. “Whether I gain corporate experience and later apply my learnings in an entrepreneurial fashion or choose a different route, I am most enthusiastic about making a meaningful impact in this area.”