WEBINAR ONLY: Members in Transition Seminar #4

Speaker #4 Name: Dalia R. Pineda

Speaker Title: Director of Admissions and Recruitment for Graduate Programs, Bauer College of Business

Speaker Company: University of Houston

Speaker Bio: Dalia R. Pineda is the Director of Admissions and Recruitment for Graduate Programs at the University of Houston C.T. Bauer College of Business.  She oversees marketing, admissions, recruitment and financial aid for all MBA and MS programs, and works closely with curriculum, coaching and student development efforts for Bauer MBA students.  She received her B.A. in Sociology from the University of Texas in Austin and M.A. in Cross Cultural Studies from the University of Houston- Clear Lake. 

Event Description/Presentation Abstract:  MBA Options at Rice University and University of Houston Engineers often consider the pursuit of an MBA during various inflection points during their career.  Whether you are an engineering student, a mid-career professional or an experienced engineering expert, there are various options for the pursuit of an MBA to broaden your perspective.

Speaker #3 Name: Sue Oldham

Speaker Title: Executive Director, Recruiting & Admissions, Jones Graduate School of Business

Speaker Company: Rice University

Speaker Bio:

Sue Kim Oldham earned a BA in English at Rice University and an MBA in Marketing from Vanderbilt University.  In her job at the Jones Graduate School, Ms. Oldham is the executive director of admissions for all three of the MBA programs. Prior to her job at Rice, Ms. Oldham had a 10-year career in information technology consulting spanning several companies and cities from Los Angeles to Charlotte to Dallas. Ms. Oldham is the current President of the Association of Rice Alumni (ARA).  She is involved with Rice through various organizations including: Annual Fund Chairs, Homecoming Chairs, 20th Reunion Planning Committee, ARA Nominating Committee, Staff Advisory Committee, RiceFest Chair. Her community involvement includes leadership positions at her church, children’s schools, and neighborhood.  Sue currently serves on the board of directors for Camp Cho-Yeh, the Houston Arboretum and the Avondale House.   

MBA Options at Rice University and University of Houston Engineers often consider the pursuit of an MBA during various inflection points during their career.  Whether you are an engineering student, a mid-career professional or an experienced engineering expert, there are various options for the pursuit of an MBA to broaden your perspective.

Speaker #2 Name: Cheryl Collarini

Speaker Title: Chairman

Speaker Company: Collarini Energy Staffing Inc.

Speaker #2 Bio: Cheryl Collarini holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from MIT. and an MBA from the University of New Orleans.  She worked for Mobil Oil as a civil engineer, operations engineer, and reservoir engineer. She left to form Collarini Engineering in 1985 to conduct reserve appraisals and integrated field studies.  Mobil engaged her to teach petroleum economics for over 18 years, including authoring the textbooks.  In 1995, she founded Collarini Energy Staffing to provide upstream professionals, temporary and fulltime, to customers globally.  In 2003, she accepted a partnership in Explore Enterprises LLC as VP Engineering.  In 2005, she returned to Collarini Energy Staffing as Chairman and started Etroa Resources LLC in 2008, another E&P company located in Louisiana.  Having left Etroa, her current roles are as Chairman of Collarini Energy Staffing and Manager and owner of DGC Energy, which consults in petroleum engineering and invests in oil and gas projects.

Career Planning and Navigation

How does a newly graduated/young professional manage cyclical behavior effectively? When should one ask for a promotion and/or a raise? What career options does a junior engineer have and what are the routes in which they can take to get to their destination?  How does career planning change over the span of a 30+ year career?

Speaker#1  Name: Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy

Speaker Title: Chief Data Scientist

Speaker Company: Halliburton-Landmark

Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy is a pioneer in the fields of data science, big data, analytics, and emerging technologies. He is currently chief data scientist at Halliburton’s Landmark PSL, leading initiatives focused on innovating with E&P Data by leveraging Big Data and Data Science.  Dr. Priyadarshy has appeared as speaker at several international conferences, and has written, co-authored, presented and published numerous research papers in peer-reviewed journals and magazines. He has held various leadership positions in AOL, Network Solutions, Acxiom Corporation prior to joining Halliburton. He was recently named to The Financial Times’ list of potential board candidates with emerging technology and analytics expertise. Dr. Priyadarshy is an adjunct faculty at Georgetown University.  He is currently senior fellow at the International Cyber Security Center at George Mason University. He is advisory board member at multiple organizations including Big Data Summit, Virginia Tech’s MBA Board, etc.  Dr. Priyadarshy holds a Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, and an MBA from Virginia Tech.

Careers in Data Science

Multiple technology revolutions are taking place and every aspect of almost all business is being impacted by technology revolution. The convergence of these revolutions is leading open fields including cybersecurity, Internet of Things, Machine to Machine communications, and Big Data. Organizations need to leverage these fields to grow, to be innovative and to remain competitive in global digital world. One of the key streams of expertise that is needed to create innovative growth in these fields is Data Science. In the presentation, I will discuss what is takes to build a career in data science, a career stream of the next generation.