Meet the Rice Jones MBA Class of 2018

Adrian Troemel

 Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business

 Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Quadrilingual mutt who’s lived in four countries, working on nanomaterials innovations.

Hometown: Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Fun Fact About Yourself: Just before starting here at Rice, I signed on to crew a transatlantic and logged 3692 nm under sail before hitting the books for b-school!

 Undergraduate School and Major: Federal Polytechnical School of Lausanne (EPFL), BSc & MSc Materials Sciences and Engineering for Medical Applications

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: Xeltis BV: Engineering in R&D

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I had the phenomenal opportunity to work at Xeltis, where we were fabricating next generation heart valves. The technology held great potential to minimize the risks for children born with congenital heart defects. One critical manufacturing step, however, was suspected to cause significant problems. I was given the opportunity to develop an in-process control protocol which is now used in implants which are going into human trial this year.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? Remember that you are great, or as said by Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

For the GMAT: Take the GMAT Prep Diagnostic test and learn what you need to work on, schedule when to work, and stick to it! I only had two weeks between discovering that I could apply to b-school (as other personal limitations fell away) and the date of the last GMAT appointment that would allow me to apply. And here I am!

For the Essays: Don’t underestimate yourself. Each and every one of your experiences has value. Always ask yourself: What did you learn? What did you take away? How have you grown? Everything you have lived is part of your story. You just need to find out how to package it and tie that ribbon. Get feedback on your essays from all around: your colleagues, your friends, your mentors. Each knows you in a different way and will pick up something.

In Seeking Recommendations: if you’re considering applying to b-school, you have already grown in many pursuits in your life. Ask those who have been around you as you improved to write your recommendations.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? As a materials engineer who worked in medical devices and organic semiconductors, I sought out universities with a great engineering school neighboring the b-school. Rice, with its world-renowned nanoengineering institute, was of course a first choice. Combined with the long history of entrepreneurship and commercialization and the world’s largest medical center right next door, there is no better place to position yourself at the interface between business and technology to contribute to global innovation.

 Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? Rather than a dream job, it is a specific sense of purpose and set of activities that I seek in my career. I would like to situate myself at the interface between business and technology, maximizing the potential of scientific innovation on a global scale. This means keeping my doors open to working in industry, pursuing entrepreneurial projects, or maximizing the potential of portfolio companies in VC.

 What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? After graduation I would like not only to be remembered, but to meet again! Until then, I hope they think of me as the helpful and driven one with perhaps a little too much energy for his own good.