The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s New Finance Lab Aides in Portfolio Management

Project Overview
The University of Nebraska at Omaha combines its location in Nebraska’s largest city with a small-school atmosphere that emphasizes collaborative learning, internships, study abroad, and leadership opportunities. Nearly 15,000 students have received national recognition for their academic and creative achievements, and, with almost 200 programs of study, UNO encourages students to customize their education in preparation for successful careers.

When construction of the College of Business Administration’s new Mammel Hall was completed in August 2010, its showpiece was the state-of-the-art investment lab.

“Construction was a two-year process from the beginning announcement to occupation,” says Dr. David Volkman, Cloud Finance Professor and Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Finance, Banking, and Law. “The new building is [composed of] two three-story atriums that cross each other, and the lab is in prime territory on a corner of that cross. So you have a lot of student traffic, and anyone who passes can look through the [lab’s] glass wall to see all the bells and whistles.”

The lab’s primary use is for instruction, including the capstone portfolio management class. It is also where graduate students manage a $2 million portfolio and business students manage a $500,000 portfolio (which they have doubled in size from the original $250,000 donation 10 years ago).

“The students have done a very good job with that,” says Dr. Volkman, who specializes in investment science portfolio management. “They beat the S&P 500 every year and use the information and technology from the lab to manage the portfolio.”

That technology includes 29 computer stations with dual monitors equipped with Research Insight software. In discussions of theory, students can press a button on their workstations to lower the monitors into their desks, transforming the lab into a regular classroom. A push of the same button raises the monitors and lets students apply theory through the financial modeling application. To complement this technology and further increase the dynamic learning environment, UNO sought electronic displays from Rise Display.

The Solution
The primary communication need, says Dr. Volkman, was to give students a sense of what it would be like to work in an actual trading room. The goals included displaying the different data flowing across markets and companies; updated pricing; updated exchange-traded fund (ETF) information; and updated index information.
“We wanted to give students the feeling of operating in an investment setting,” says Dr. Volkman. “That’s the whole design of the lab.”

UNO first came into contact with Rise when it developed an investment lab in an older building several years ago. The lab included one electronic display, which Rise provided and installed. So, when it came time to invest in displays for the new lab, the University again turned to Rise for a solution.

Facing one of the atriums outside the lab is a large 24-pixel premium LED ticker. As well as displaying market data, the ticker streams customized local announcements for students. Inside the lab, a video wall and world clock keep students up to date on financial and economic news.

“One thing we accomplish is that students will look up at the displays and see what the changes are in the market, what are the stocks are most active in the day,” says Dr. Volkman. “It helps add some validity to what we’re doing—it doesn’t come right out of the textbook, it’s going on in the real world. The displays help give that sense of importance of material that they’re learning.”

Dr. Volkman adds, “[Students] just love it. They’re in awe of the lab and everything in it. I was giving a student from another university a tour and showing him the lab, and he said, ‘If we had something like this at my school, I would study more!’ They think it’s phenomenal.”