Mission Accomplished
By Robert Strauss
For 25 years, graduates of
the Jerome Fisher Program in
Management and Technology
have been putting their
knowledge to work just
about everywhere (even on
the moon).
Deeksha Hebbar was home in Kuwait trying to figure
out what to do with her adult life. Soon to graduate high
school, she wanted to study business in the United States
and was perusing the University of Pennsylvania's website
while filling out a Wharton undergraduate application.
"I have to say, I really didn't know what I wanted to do,"
said Hebbar, now in the Penn class of 2006. "I was applying
to engineering schools elsewhere, and I couldn't decide between
the two—business or engineering.
"Then I came across the Jerome Fisher section, and it
seemed like fate," she said. "I was truly lucky. Here I am, and
I am inspired every day."
Ms. Hebbar is in one of the most exclusive cadres on
campus, the Jerome Fisher Program in Management &
Technology. About 55 undergrads each year are enrolled in
the interdisciplinary program that offers joint degrees in the
Wharton School and the School of Engineering. It's a rigorous,
no-nonsense deal, to be sure—only for students who
have lots of guts. But in its 25 years, "M&T," as its partisans
call it, has produced an outstanding array of alumni: from
investment bankers to environmental engineers to technology
gurus—to even an astronaut.
"And yet it is sometimes a secret, this great program,"
said Rob Weber, ENG'82, W'82, who graduated in the first
full class of M&T and is now back as an adjunct professor.
"Top high school students who are looking at Penn probably
know about Wharton. Then they look on the website and
say, 'This looks like something interesting. I've always liked
math and science. I think I'll apply.' Suddenly, we get some
of the best students in the country. We get renaissance kinds
of people."
One of those renaissance types is Eileen McCarthy,
ENG'02, W'02. She grew up in Middletown, New Jersey—Springsteen
country near the Jersey Shore. McCarthy knew
she wanted to stay on the East Coast, but she also knew she
wanted to work in engineering and be an entrepreneur. Yet
she also wanted a real campus life and an opportunity, when
the time called for it, to not be an engineer and an entrepreneur—and she
wanted friends who were similar in that way.
"When I was in school, my best friends were studying engineering,
but they were also the ones with the busiest schedules
beyond class. That's a sign of the M&T, over-achieving
type," she said with a bit of a chuckle. Ms. McCarthy
herself was the president of the M&T club, did research for
Wharton professors, was a campus peer leader, and found
time to be the captain of the synchronized swimming team.
"It was hard enough taking the required courses, but I
wanted to take some Middle Eastern politics and British
history and environmental courses. I even made a weak attempt
at pottery," she said. Now she is working with water
resources as an engineer for Hazen and Sawyer in New York
City. "Everything about the program and everything I did
at Penn comes together for me here. I can go into meetings
with other engineers and because I had the Wharton courses,
I understand the social and business impacts of the projects.
It was a unique experience I had in the M&T program, and
it has prepared me well."
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