#2 - Introduction to Me

To sum up my life and interests in the shortest possible way, while revealing how I took the path that lead me en route to this course:

School: I'm a business administration major at the Haas School of Business undergraduate program, and I enjoy taking fun courses such as entrepreneurship, competitive strategy, and finance courses. With this background, I've developed an unquenchable interest in technology and dream of being a product manager at a high-tech company (in the space of Internet e-commerce or cloud SaaS) without the technical background. As part of my desire to gain a better understanding of technical matters, I am taking this course and am pursuing a side project with some fellow classmates to build out an application.

Activities: I have the honor and opportunity to serve as Berkeley Women in Business' president this school year, and I'm continuing my role this semester with new events for students on campus. (Quick plug: Visit our lovely website here.) As part of my interest in social impact, I'm one of the undergraduate student consultants part of the MBA-level Social Sector Solutions group, and I am partaking in the advising of a local nonprofit client in regards to business plan matters and implementation planning. My third big-scale activity is that I am a member of the Haas undergraduate case competition team to be competing internationally in Montreal, Canada this March. I am excited for all of these opportunities, and equally delighted to take my first course in the Industrial Engineering department.

Hobbies: I have a passion for art, and I'm a freelance graphic design artist as well as a hobby comic book artist. I'm not the most skillful per say, but I carry lots of love for the things I create and I have a bounty of ideas. Given that I was a self-taught artist, my craft stems from interest and hobby rather than for commercial or character-breeding purposes.

Weird facts: I used to be right-handed, but now I'm left-handed and I can't write with my right hand. I'm a new year's baby. I love to eat different cuisines, and in particular I like vegetable dishes. I am allergic to mushrooms, and I don't eat beef or pork.

Pleasure to meet you!

#1 - Introductory Post - Patent Engineering Course

Greetings to citizens of Planet Earth:

As part of a patent engineering course I'm taking in the Ind. Eng department this semester, I've created this blog as a creative outlet to discuss some relevant topics covered in class.

Some goals I have in mind in taking this course include the following:

• Improving my technical understanding of the discourses behind patent differences and similarities
• Understand the business aspect of the patent process as well as its measurable benefits 
• Stay up-to-date with patent litigation cases going on in the technology space by reading recent news and having the brainpower to take a position and argue for one side or the other
• Practice my ability to assess news critically rather than have it feed into my brain as fact

Being the first course I've taken in the Ind. Eng department, I am slightly worried about being less technical than my fellow peers (already in the first day, my classmates were discussing the 'definitions' of mobile wireless systems, which I understand to a  good degree but that I lack the knowledge of terminology and jargon for). 

The goal for myself would be to bring in my business savvy to this environment and be able to fill in my weaknesses with the knowledge of my classmates. I look forward to sharing our writing and teaching each other tidbits of our strengths this coming semester.

Cheers,

Sandy