Experiential Learning
First Dakota National Bank eTrading Education Lab is a state-of-the-art experiential learning facility located in Harding Hall. It houses 18 mini desktop computers with dual monitors, nine of which are Bloomberg Terminals. The lab serves as a modern interactive classroom with a seating capacity of 36, for such courses as business finance, investments, agricultural finance, student managed investment fund, trading in agricultural futures and options, agribusiness marketing and prices, marketing research and econometrics, as well as SDSU Extension workshops such as Managing the Margin among others (see Lab Calendar). The lab is equipped with analytical and trading programs, including Bloomberg terminals, Morningstar Direct, ThinkorSwim, SAS and Matlab. The lab is a home for the Investment Club whose members develop financial knowledge from trading games, industry speakers and tutorial sessions.
Managing REAL Money!
The Student Managed Investment Fund manages over a quarter million dollars donated by the school's long-time friends, such as David Chicoine, Steve Stahly and Janet Wade-Reddick. Student analysts, with the guidance of Gerald Wang, are fully responsible for selecting, analyzing, pitching and voting for stock investments. They all become expert users of Bloomberg and ThinkorSwim. Their superb performance has won them the first prize in Quinnipiac G.A.M.E Forum in 2017.
The POET Commodity Fund manages the $100,000 fund donated by POET for the purpose of learning commodity trading and risk management. The fund is the first-of-the-kind experiential learning platform in the nation. Students, under the supervision of Matthew Diersen, perform fundamental and technical analysis and trade commodity futures and/or options.