2019 Professor Harry Simons Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship for the Study of Accounting Recipient

Biography:  Muhammad Umar Dada is a senior at UCLA pursuing a major in Business Economics as well as a minor in Accounting. Born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, Umar moved to Los Angeles in 2017 to join the incredibly talented and diverse community at UCLA, from where he will be completing his undergraduate education in a period of three years. During his final year at UCLA, Umar is engaged in conducting research on topics on M&A and executive compensation for a faculty member at the Anderson School of Management.  Beyond school and work, Umar is passionate about cricket and enjoys taking road trips.

Future plans:  Umar completed an internship at Ernst & Young last summer and will be returning to the firm after graduation as part of its LA Transfer Pricing practice. Further down the line, he plans to obtain a CPA or CFA license and hopes to attend a leading business school for his MBA. Ultimately, Umar intends to leverage his skills and experience working at his family business based in Pakistan.

What does the scholarship mean to me?  To be selected as a recipient of the Professor Harry Simons Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship is a tremendous honor. I am sincerely grateful to the donors for their generosity in funding this scholarship and their commitment to the education of students like myself. This scholarship will help alleviate much of the considerable financial burden that comes with attending UCLA as an out-of-state student. I see this scholarship as a vote of confidence in my academic career and as motivation to continue striving for new heights.