The Aspiring STEM Geek - Engineering, Finance and Teaching with Ronald Anderson - #7

In this episode I talk with Ronald Anderson. Ron was the Dean of the Fox School of Business at Temple University, taught finance for over 20 years and worked as an engineer and project manager at a Fortune 500 Company. We discuss a variety of topics including: pursuing a degree in engineering, innovation in the energy industry, the pivot to alternative energy, project management, Ron's research into family led companies and AI disrupting teaching. Hope you enjoy! ARTICLES: Pandemic Learning Loss and COVID-19: Education Impacts from the Annie E. Casey Foundation: https://www.aecf.org/blog/pandemic-learning-loss-impacting-young-peoples-futures Reports Of Cheating At Colleges Soar During The Pandemic from NPR.org: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/27/1031255390/reports-of-cheating-at-colleges-soar-during-the-pandemic Visualizing the History of U.S. Inflation Over 100 Years from Visual Capitalist: https://advisor.visualcapitalist.com/inflation-over-last-100-years/ The Defining Series: Basic Well Log Interpretation from Schlumberger: https://www.slb.com/resource-library/oilfield-review/defining-series/defining-log-interpretation Geology of petroleum from the University of Kansas: https://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/Oil/primer03.html Electric power sector CO2 emissions drop as generation mix shifts from coal to natural gas from the US Energy Information Administration: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=48296 How has energy use changed throughout U.S. history? from the US Energy Information Administration: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=62444 Vogtle’s troubles bring US nuclear challenge into focus from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/vogtles-troubles-bring-us-nuclear-challenge-into-focus-2023-08-24/ An Empirical Examination of the Role of the CEO and the Compensation Committee in Structuring Executive Pay by Ronald Anderson and John Bizjak: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=220851 Two Walmart Heirs Top $100 Billion Wealth for the First Time from Bloomberg:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-16/two-walmart-heirs-each-top-100-billion-wealth-for-first-time Founding-Family Ownership and Firm Performance: Evidence from the S&P 500 by Ronald Anderson and David Reeb: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/4992644_FoundingFamily_Ownership_and_Firm_Performance_Evidence_from_the_SP_500 One Culprit in Rising College Costs: Administrative Expenses from US News: https://www.usnews.com/education/articles/one-culprit-in-rising-college-costs Infographic: Who’s The Highest-Paid Public Employee In Your State? From Fast Company: https://www.fastcompany.com/1672861/infographic-whos-your-states-highest-paid-public-employee CONNECT: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-dolinay-frm-96a289106/ GitHub: https://github.com/ad17171717 X: https://twitter.com/DolinayG Chapters 0:00 - Intro 1:06 - Growing up in rural Pennsylvania 4:25 - Maintaining friendships over time 5:59 - Importance of education 7:20 - Learning loss during the pandemic 11:23 - Studying geological engineering at the University of Pittsburgh 14:20 - The Great Inflation of the 1970's/80's 14:55 - Pursuing an education & career in an industry you enjoy 17:15 - Working as an engineer at Schlumberger 21:02 - The difficulty of an engineering degree 22:24 - Value of statistics 26:47 - Shifting to Project Management and working across the world 34:32 - Innovations in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing 38:54 - Natural Gas as a bridge energy 41:56 - Nuclear energy 44:48 - Pursuing a PhD in Finance 48:36 - Researching family led companies 52:55 - Teaching at American University 54:08 - Research and Teaching at a University 56:21 - Chair of the Finance Department at Temple University 57:34 - Rising administrative costs at Universities 1:00:05 - Sports at Universities 1:01:30 - Favorite country to travel to 1:02:45 - Future travel plans 1:04:37 - Advice to aspiring engineers & a warning to future PhDs