Yang Fu (M.S. Business Analytics ’19)
Tapping into your personal and professional network can go a long way toward securing an internship or job. For three students in the Master of Science in Business Analytics program at MSU, connections to the Spartan community brought success for their summer opportunities.
Yang Fu, a Broad alumnus who graduated from the program last December, realized that students looking for an internship this year, in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, would have more challenges than usual.
“I had a hard time finding a job last year, and considering the current situation, it is much harder for students to secure internships than I experienced,” he said.
Fu explained that while he was at MSU, he received invaluable advice from Broad College faculty and staff that ultimately made him feel like he became a member of an extended family that wanted him to succeed.
Vishal Agarwal (M.S. Business Analytics ’20)
This guidance and advice helped Fu land his current job as a research associate at Fafnir, a Detroit-based finance start-up that also happens to be Spartan-owned. In his role now as an alumnus, Fu has given every effort to extend this supportive community further and help Spartans every chance he gets.
“Once I noticed that [Fafnir] might offer positions to MSU students, I felt a strong sense of obligation to help my fellow Spartans,” he said.
Fu ended up advocating for the hire of three current master’s students to work in different internship roles at Fafnir this summer.
Sharan Salem (M.S. Business Analytics ’20)
Vishal Agarwal, Sharan Salem and Syed Kashif Kamoonpuri, each set to graduate in December 2020, are eager to take on their new internship roles this summer, thanks to Fu’s help. Agarwal will be building financial models for institutions to better serve small business and individuals, Salem will be conducting market research and using statistics and machine learning concepts for a credit risk assessment tool, and Kamoonpuri will be developing an application to help lenders predict borrowers’ financial statuses for better decision making.
Agarwal shared that the “Spartan network and community was one of the things that helped my decision to join MSU.” Now, he has been able to experience firsthand how Spartan alumni are always willing to support each other.
Salem echoed this feeling and said, “Wearing the Spartan cape has helped me stand out and has given me an edge over other applicants in terms of trust and skills.”
Syed Kamoonpuri (M.S. Business Analytics ’20)
All three students expressed gratitude for Fu’s help in securing their internships, and Kamoonpuri said, “Yang is a proud Spartan, and he is determined to help fellow Spartans.” He explained how Fu went above and beyond to share an overview of the position, personally pass his resume along for consideration and even worked with him to prepare for the interview.
“His guidance and mentorship played a key role in my success,” Kamoonpuri said. “I am proud to be a part of a community that looks out for each other, and I look forward to working with him.”
Fu will be directly supervising his fellow Spartans, serving as the technical leader for the company’s data analysis project, and he is eager to get started. “I am excited to onboard fellow Spartans this summer and looking forward to working with them,” he said.
