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| FROM Foster Admissions Blog: The Toyota & Net Impact Next Generation Mobility Challenge |
 Today we have a special guest blog by Caitlin McElwrath, Class of 2017! Caitlin attended the 2015 Toyota and Net Impact Next Generation Mobility Challenge at the University of Washington, a competition where multidisciplinary teams of students work together to dream up and map out innovative solutions to a specific mobility or transportation issue. The winning team from the challenge will have an opportunity to receive summer internships with Toyota to incubate their ideas with their innovation partners. Read about Caitlin’s experience below! This story originally posted on the MBAA Net Impact Blog One month into the Foster MBA program I found myself at the Toyota and Net Impact Next Generation Mobility Challenge. On my team there was a transportation engineer, industrial engineer, human centered design engineer, a construction manager and me, the MBA. I signed up for the event because it reminded me of the engineering challenges I did as an undergraduate in mechanical engineering. I jumped at the opportunity to work with engineers again, perhaps subconsciously seeking the comfort of the familiar in this whirlwind of an adventure that has been my first month as an MBA student. Leading up to the event we were given information and materials regarding the current state of mobility and some of the problems Toyota and Net Impact are focusing on – productivity, safety, and happiness in the field of transportation. When I arrived and met my team, we started talking about which of the personas from the reading materials we identified with the most and started throwing out ideas before we had even finished our coffee. Our excitement got a little bit ahead of us as we forgot that the schedule of the day wouldn’t have us even start brainstorming for another couple of hours, after we had discovered and framed. Using a classic human-centered design approach, our process was split into four parts: discover, frame, imagine and prototype. Discover This part of the day was focused on delving deeper into the persona of our choice. The goal was to really learn about the pains and gains our customer faced in regards to transportation. My team picked Reed, a teenager who loves driving, gives his friends rides all the time and doesn’t quite feel comfortable behind the wheel yet. The materials provided to us included a template of an empathy map and user journey to better help us get inside Reed’s head. Frame My favorite quote of the day came from the framing section: “If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first fifty-five minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” – Albert Einstein The presenter put this quote on the screen and it resonated with me and my team. Even in the Discover portion of the day, my team found it difficult not to get too far ahead of ourselves and skip right to the solution, and it was through this Framing part of the day that we really realized how much we needed to focus on what Reed’s real problem was before we figure out how to solve it. Imagine The best part of the day, in my opinion. This is when the creativity really lets loose and you brainstorm for the problem at hand. My team had a ton of ideas jotted down on post-it notes, and I began to worry about being able to narrow it down to one idea. However, once we started organizing the ideas into groups and really focusing on if they addressed the problem at hand, we came to a solution naturally. Having industry professionals in the room as mentors to guide us along significantly helped us in this portion as well. Prototype I’m used to prototyping for engineered solutions, I know how to use cardboard and pipe cleaners to illustrate the functionality of the product being pitched. However, in this case our solution was more of an experience that we decided to convey with a story board and role play. At the end of the prototyping phase, we got to present our idea to the judges and see everyone else’s pitch. I was amazed at the variety and completeness of all the other teams solutions. We had all been given the same material, all gone through the same steps, and yet every team had a completely unique well-thought-out idea. I was amazed and humbled to be included in such an amazing group of individuals working together to solve these very real mobility challenges. I originally signed up to do something familiar, however I ended up completely outside of my comfort zone, and I am a better designer and business leader because of it. Read more about Net Impact and other student clubs here. For more about the Net Impact and Toyota Next Generation Mobility Challenge, click here. About the Author  Caitlin McElwrath, Class of 2017, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and prior to Foster worked at Eaton Corporation in manufacturing and project management for power management equipment in the data center industry. She also taught children in K-5th grade engineering concepts using LEGO at Play-Well TEKnologies. She’s currently focusing on Product Management and Marketing at Foster, but also considering consulting. To find out more about Caitlin, visit her LinkedIn profile here. |
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| FROM Foster Admissions Blog: Foster Students in Silicon Valley – The 2015 Bay Area Tech Trek |
Today we have a guest article from Peter Kazarian, Class of 2016! You may remember Peter from his story about his amazing experience at the MBA Study Tour to Japan last spring. In October, Peter organized and led the annual Foster Technology Club’s Bay Area Tech Trek, a student-run event that takes Foster MBA students on a tour of Silicon Valley tech companies. Read on for Peter’s recap of the event! San Francisco. The Bay Area. This little patch of land in Northern California that gave us great bands (Journey, Smash Mouth) massive burritos (copied decades later by Chipotle) and the tech industry as we know it. High tech is responsible for 11.4% of US private sector payroll, and grows every year, just like Foster’s B-school ranking. Our largest student club, Foster Tech, organizes an annual trek down to the Bay Area to meet with some of the biggest brands you use every day. We see geeky product demos, we chat with recruiters, and we hear from local Foster alums – on what the MBA experience looks like at a tech firm. As a Silicon Valley native and a VP of Foster Tech, I was part of the team in charge of the Tech Trek this year. We wanted to give our member students, especially first-years, the best experience they could have. Business students can really benefit from a thorough understanding of the industry, especially as we approach hiring season for full-time and internships. So 50 of us bought tickets, rented cars and hotel rooms near SFO, and spent 3 days driving to 18 different companies like Google, Box, Zynga and others. Foster took the Bay Area by storm with one of our largest and longest Tech Treks on record. This was the first year we went to three days of content, but with local connections and plenty of help from our Career Management Office, we felt good about our chances. And we wanted to build the Foster brand in the Bay. We’ve been climbing the rankings in US News and World Report, Businessweek and others, but we’re located a bit up the street from San Francisco. Exposure in front of firms hiring from our peer schools was a key goal. And with this year’s additions of big players like Facebook, Twitter, and WalMart’s ecommerce arm, we can say mission accomplished.  Three experiences stood out to me, as an attendee:
 It was a great trip. On top of the business side we had daily alumni happy hours where we were able to bond and network with area graduates. Multiple cars were able to make a pit stop for In-N-Out Burger (try it if you haven’t) and I was able to take classmates to my favorite Indian food truck from my time in SF (Curry Up Now). A great experience to be sure. With dozens of Foster grads scheduled to head to the Bay Area in 2016 and beyond, it looks like this tradition’s only going to pick up steam. About the Author  Prior to Foster, Peter Kazarian was a lifelong Californian and veteran of the LA/SF digital/ad agency scene. As a digital strategist, he focused on web strategy, e-commerce and database-driven marketing for major nonprofits like the American Red Cross and the City of Hope cancer treatment center. After winning a few industry-specific awards, he came to Foster to move fully into consumer marketing on behalf of for-profits. He really enjoys his UW education and bonding with classmates and alums, and he had a great time working at Starbucks HQ doing Brand and Channel marketing this past summer. When not networking or studying, he spends his time cooking, hiking, and going deep in the blogosphere. And trying to adjust to the PNW’s weather and lack of Mexican food. |
10 Dec 2015, 11:55
10 Dec 2015, 17:13
Posted from GMAT ToolKit 
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Hi Generic [Bot],
Here are updates for you:
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