The Merrick School of Business welcomed spring with an important victory: A group of highly motivated and successful students competed in the opening round of the CFA Institute Investment Research Challenge, besting their fellow students from several universities across Maryland and in Washington, D.C., in a Feb. 21 contest to create and present the most effective equity research report and presentation about an actual publicly-traded company. The group, consisting of five students and coached by Steve Isberg, associate professor of finance for the Merrick School of Business, then traveled to Denver for the “Americas” regional round on March 18-19. Although they offered a solid presentation at that round of the competition, they did not advance.

The City of Baltimore is dotted with about 250 residential neighborhoods. Some of these locations are gleaming with skyscrapers overlooking the picturesque Inner Harbor, while others feature tree-lined streets, stately mansions or even centuries-old row homes with marbles steps. In many respects, Baltimore is a vibrant and livable city. But then there are the rows of vacant homes — and the indicators of poverty surrounding them.

For Nikolay Ratajczak, a senior in the B.S. in Real Estate and Economic Development program, it’s a different picture of these boarded-up homes that he sees. Through the grime, the trash and the clutter, he believes that opportunity awaits. In fact, he can back up this point of view with his award-winning research.

After a full semester, a group of UB students showed off their prowess for crafting real-world solutions for real-world clients from the nonprofit community through their Design/Business Link and Social Enterprise courses. The group  presented new ideas for branding and organizational impact in a competitive environment that took place last fall.