UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — When Shahriar Rayhan speaks to friends or family who aren’t familiar with the Penn State Smeal College of Business, one subject is always a conversation starter.
“I think the very first thing I’d mention about Smeal is our commitment to our two most important values: honor and integrity,” he said. “Business is a unique subject in that it can lead to great power — with which comes equally great responsibility. The corporate world has not had the best track record in the past few decades in terms of ethics. I believe Smeal does an excellent job in engraving bright young minds with a moral compass to navigate their futures and be ethically strong leaders in difficult times. This is our most important point of pride.”
Rayhan, who graduated with a 4.0 GPA in supply chain and information systems (SC&IS) and a minor in economics, was selected as Smeal’s summer 2022 student marshal.
That honor, he said, is not his alone.
“I felt very honored to receive the news, but more importantly, I felt elated to share it with my parents. As the first person in my family to attend college in the United States, this honor is not an individual one for me,” he said. “I share it with the two people who have worked tirelessly to put me through college and inspired me to be a hard worker in my own life – without which this achievement would not be possible.”
Rayhan was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh, a country in southern Asia that is India’s neighbor to the east on the Bay of Bengal. His family immigrated to Arlington, Virginia in 2011.
“I feel privileged to have lived the two halves of my life so far in starkly different environments, and I believe this has molded me into a global citizen,” he said.
“I will be forever grateful and indebted to my parents for understanding the importance of education and leaving everything behind, including their home and families, so my brother and I can become better people and enjoy a brighter future.”
Through his parents’ sacrifice, Rayhan has leveraged his own intellect and drive to take advantage of the multitude of opportunities Smeal provides.
He was a member of the Epsilon Chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma, the international business honor society; the Gamma Chapter of Sigma Chi Mu Tau, the supply chain honor society; the social media manager and a peer counselor for the Penn State chapter of DMAX, a fully student-oriented mental health awareness and advocacy club; and a member of the Penn State club wrestling team.
Among Rayhan’s many awards are:
- Evan Pugh Scholar Senior Award
- President’s Freshman Award
- Borrelli Family Open Doors Scholarship
- Wright Distribution Scholarship
- Moyer Trustee Scholarship
- Bunton-Waller Scholarship
- World Language Outstanding Achievement Award (French)
- World Language Outstanding Achievement Award (Arabic)
After graduating high school as valedictorian, Rayhan said he spent his first year at University Park exploring his options. Three elements then intersected to inform his choice of major: timing, Smeal’s excellence in supply chain and fit.
“The time to declare my major coincided with the beginning of the COVID pandemic. After my first year, I had narrowed down my interests in Smeal to finance, management information systems and supply chain and information systems,” he said. “Supply chain went from being something rarely anyone knew about to a buzzword in the world of business. I saw this as an opportunity to study a difficult and interesting subject in an exciting, relevant and evolutionary period for the field.”
That realization was reinforced when he researched fields that Smeal excelled in. The college was at or near the top of most supply chain rankings.
“I had the opportunity to learn from some of the best in the field, in the institution that is always at the cutting edge of supply chain research,” Rayhan said. “After two years of studying supply chain under the outstanding faculty and alongside some of the brightest minds, I can comfortably say I understand exactly why we continue to be a leader in the field.”
Finally, SC&IS was a perfect fit for him.
"I had always thought of myself as a ‘numbers guy.’ I liked math, and quantitative skills came easy to me. At the same time, I also enjoy interacting with people, being hands-on and solving puzzles,” Rayhan said.
“I never thought I’d find a field that requires all those skills, but with the help of my [undergraduate] academic adviser, I managed to discover just the thing for me. I saw — and still see — supply chain as an intellectually stimulating discipline that is still fresh, evolving and with a lot of room left for my contribution.”
In September, Rayhan will start work at Technomics, Inc., an innovative defense and energy consulting firm in Arlington. The company serves the federal government and other important clients.
Then, in 2023, Rayhan plans to further his education.
“I plan on attending graduate school part-time to get my MBA or a graduate degree in supply chain and/or economics to continue my lifelong ambition to learn,” he said.
“My long-term vision is to make a significant and recognizable positive difference in the ESG [environmental, social and corporate governance] space. I one day hope to start my own business and/or serve as a CEO for a socially and environmentally conscious corporation.”