The Business of Green

A $5,000 Instructional Innovation Grant funds G3, Going Green Globally, a program that evaluates green concerns from a business perspective.

It’s the little idea that could.  In 2007, Vice Dean Linda Krzykowski pulled together the first annual G3 MBA project - shorthand for Going Green Globally - on a shoestring, begging and borrowing what she needed to create the program.  This year, fueled by a UAlbany grant, G3 really took off. 

Krzykowski said, “Associate Professor Paul Miesing and I had an idea to provide integration and globalization concepts for our full time MBA program.  We debated lots of ideas but chose renewable energy as the focus because it was topical and tied into the campus book project (the UAlbany 2007 Campus Reading Project: “Field Notes from a Catastrophe” by Elizabeth Kolbert), and sounded like it would lend itself to what we wanted to accomplish. Once we began, it seemed to take on a life of its own.  We had no funding but we did the best we could ... we asked for favors, people donated time. It was successful beyond our wildest dreams.”

For years, the MBA program offered Global, an intense five week end-of-term class in which students evaluated companies based on finance, human resources, information technology management and marketing, and then made recommendations for future success.

G3 brings an environmental focus to the program, but the concept remains the same: evaluate a company and present the results to judges who rival Simon Cowell in criticism.  Instead of the five weeks that Global ran, G3 finishes in only 8 days. Though the program is shorter, there are additions.  One is Pradeep Haldar, who heads the Nanoengineering Constellation of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. Last year, Krzykowski invited Haldar to present to the students. The nanotechnology professor, who holds an MBA as well as a Ph.D. in materials science, enjoyed working with the MBA students so much, he volunteered to help evaluate the initial presentations and attend final presentations.  Another UAlbany scientist, John Delaro, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences participated as well.

This year Haldar brought his own students into the project. A group of nanotechnology students completed analyses of the various renewable energy sectors and presented their findings to MBA students who used this information to choose emerging companies to evaluate.   Take your PhD/Student to Lunch brought the MBA and nano teams together to share business and engineering/scientific ideas. Business faculty evaluated nano PhD student presentations and Dr. Haldar again presented to the MBAs and officially evaluated their work.

Another expert, Jim Mahoney, former CEO of Dayton Power and Light, was drawn into the project by Krzykowski last year.  Mahoney offered to help develop G3 through email, but quickly was drawn into the project and agreed to be a “life line" for student teams as they worked on their projects. In 2007, Mahoney flew into Albany on his own expense, coached teams in the final afternoon of the project and stayed to hear final presentations the following day. 

This year, Mahoney expanded his participation to a weeklong experience, involved the Battelle Institute, the largest Department of Energy research contractor, and arranged for science support life lines for each team. The students visited the New York Independent System Operator, the entity that operates New York State’s bulk energy grid.

Prof. John Delano, Distinguished Professor, Atmospheric Sciences.		Dr. Jim Mahoney, Former CEO, Dayton Power and Light

Besides outside experts, we’ve dug into our own treasure trove of expertise.  Last year, Associate Professor Paul Miesing played an integral role helping to develop the G3 concept.  This year, eight faculty members requested involvement.

Sweta Bhojak, Meghan Bruen, Shveta Garg, Business Coach Alex Brownstein, Ariele Sussman and Roberta Lombardo

For more information on G3: http://www.albany.edu/business/graduate/G3/index.html