Last month, Sreeratna Kancherla and fellow students at 亚洲AV gave advice to the CEO of HUNGRY, an Arlington, Virginia-based company, on different ways to reduce HUNGRY鈥檚 carbon footprint.
鈥淲e suggested they聽鈥媏xplore incentives and partnerships for electric vehicles and for composting, as well as developing emissions mapping tools,鈥 said Kancherla. 鈥淚t was part of an interesting project聽where聽we聽saw up close聽what a company faces when trying to become more聽鈥媏nvironmentally聽sustainable and聽provide聽them with聽蝉辞濒耻迟颈辞苍蝉.鈥
Kancherla and other students were enrolled in MBA 797 Environmentally Sustainable Operations, an elective class offered by . The class was open to MBA students and students pursuing other graduate degrees across campus. 聽
This semester marks the first time class has been offered in more than five years, according to , director of Mason鈥檚 , who developed and taught the elective. The class has seven MBA students and three graduate students from other programs, including at the . The class, which ended in March, was offered at Mason Square (formerly the Arlington Campus) and will be offered again next spring on Mason鈥檚 Fairfax Campus.
鈥淭he objective was to offer an experiential course on the intersection of business and sustainability,鈥 said Bellos, who is also an associate professor and dean鈥檚 scholar in . 鈥淲e wanted to equip students with the education and information to make the business argument for sustainability, help companies examine their impact on the environment, and offer solutions to reduce their environmental footprint.鈥
Jake Henstrom, a graduate student in at the , said the class was informative and important for them to take because they want to collaborate with people in the business world on issues of sustainability.
鈥The class enhanced my understanding of the language and thinking of people in the business world,鈥 said Henstrom.
For the main project in the class, students divided into groups to work directly with different companies and offer advice to their leadership on sustainability. Kancherla and Henstrom were part of the team working with HUNGRY, a platform for chefs and food delivery services.
Jeff Grass, HUNGRY鈥檚 CEO, said his leadership team was impressed with the quantitative and qualitative analysis from the Mason students in their recommendations for a more effective and comprehensive sustainability strategy.
鈥淎t HUNGRY, environmental sustainability is one of our two core pillars in our commitment to community, and the team did a masterful job in helping us take our thinking and plans to the next level,鈥 Grass said.
Kancherla said the class enhanced her understanding of sustainability.
鈥淚t鈥檚 extremely relevant to what鈥檚 happening globally in business right now,鈥 Kancherla said.