Following ten years as a student at the University of Michigan and seven years as a teacher at the University of South Carolina, as fate would have it, I moved with my family of wife and two sons (ages 6 and 10) to Orlando the summer of 1998. It was then that I taught my first course to a small group of unusually motivated young undergraduate finance majors at the University of Central Florida. It was June 23, 1998, the first day of class that I met Deepa Agarwal.
She was a shy and inconspicuous young woman who displayed an unpretentious joy and modesty in her smile. She didnt say a word that first day in class but never lost focus for a moment. Little did I know this would be the beginning of a special relationship in which in would be called upon to nature the developing mind of immensely motivated and brilliant young person.
Two weeks into the semester, I administered the first examination. While grading them, I came across a painstakingly neat set of answers. The writing was meticulous and the logic was precise. The score was the maximum possibleone hundred percent. I then realized it was Deepas paper.
To distinguish students based on ability as well as to summon the best of them, I include questions on each exam that even the brightest have difficulty solving. To challenge Deepa, I dramatically increased the overall difficulty of the course and the examinations for the remainder of the semester. But as hard as I tried, it was impossible to maker her score less. Deepa portrayed the enthusiasm of a child, standing up to every challenge, always willing to learn. It reminded me of myself as a child, but more importantly, it reminded me of my son. Despite her achievements, Deepa displayed a solemn sense of modesty that enabled her to garner the respect and admiration of her fellow students.
There were two incidences during the summer of 98 that I will always remember fondly. On one occasion, Deepa missed a class. Knowing her enthusiasm for learning, I was naturally surprised, so I asked the rest of the class if anyone knew where she was. As it turned out, she had to see a physician. But I vividly recall several students asking in jest, why I expressed concern about her welfare when she missed but a single class, and whether I would express similar concern for the for the other students. I smiled and the students smiledit dawned on us the immense respect that Deepa commanded of everyone who knew herstudents and professors alike. On another occasion, toward the end of the semester, I discussed several research projects in finance that might interest the motivated students. While several of them expressed the desire to work on these projects, Deepa maintained a profound silence and never raised her eyes from her desk. She knew I was challenging her to greater heights, but little did I know that it wasnt a simple summer research assignment that she yearned for, but rather to be the youngest doctoral student in the history of our business program.
Following that summer, Deepa took many more advanced finance courses. As part of one of these courses, for the first time, she got hands-on experience investing in the stock market. She found the prospect of investing and the uncertainty of the stock market both thrilling and scary much as a child would. Deepa woul come to my office on numerous occasions to discuss investment strategies and each time left excited to try something new. it was a new experience she thoroughly enjoyed.
Soon there were no remaining undergraduate courses for her to takeshe had done them all. Looking for more challenges, Deepa wanted to move on to graduate courses but was concerned she would not be allowed to do so. Knowing her immense ability, I wrote a strong letter on her behalf citing all the reasons why she should be allowed to take more advanced courses. To her excitement, she was permitted. And before long she was registered in almost all the graduate courses offered by the Business School. There was no barrier she could not overcome.
Towards the end of 98 and the early part of 99, Deepa was confronted with a new issuewhat to do following graduation? I strongly advised her to apply to the top graduate schools around the country. As much as I would have liked th have a student as accomplished as her at the University of Central Florida, I resisted advising her to stay. I knew she had to reach greater heights for which she would have to go elsewhere. It was indeed my pleasure to give her the strongest recommendations I could. Deepa was without a doubt the best student I had encountered during my entire career and I made that known to my recommendations.
It was during the next few months, in February and March 99, that the finance PhD program at UCF was beginning to gather steam. Soon she showed a keen interest in applying for admission to this program. I was one of four faculty on the admissions committee and conveyed both her interest and her ability to the committee. While she was one of our top candidates, there was concern among several faculty of her young age. The question was, while she was brilliant, did she possess the experience and maturity to understand the commitment a PhD program demanded? I related to the committee my own expreience as a young undergraduate student at the University of Michigan which was quite similar to Deepas , and in the end she was admitted with overwhelming support, at age 20, as the youngest student in the history of the program.
During the admissions evaluation process, we spoke on numerous occasions about her interests and the kind of research she would like to pursue during the PhD program. In the end, it became apparent that Deepa wanted to learn as much as possible about investments, an area that I specialized in. I impressed on her the difficulty of working under my supervision and the demands that would be put on her (given my own background in theoretical physics and finance that I combine in the research projects I undertake). It soon became apparent to me that she would not take no for an answer. In the end, with the blessing of the PhD admissions committee, it was decided that she would work under my supervision. I knew that instant that I would be overseeing the education of the kind of student that comes by once in a liftetime.
In early summer 99, it was decided that Deepa would begin the PhD program in July of that year. We met once after she returned from a short trip visiting her parents in India. She expressed her excitement about the holiday as well as her excitement about beginning the program, and we laid out a plan for the courses she would take and the skills she would acquire to enable her to do the research that was to follow. In early July, we spoke twice on the telephone and further discussed her progress. During our last conversation around July 8, 1999, she said she would visit me in my office in about two weeks. But that was not to be. On Monday, July 19, 1999, at 12:00 noon, I visited her summer mathematics class to inquire about her whereabouts from fellow students. She had been missing for about a week then. Given her enthusiasm for learning, I was very surprised. I immediately called a friend to inform the police. Later that afternoon, she would be found in her apartment. It was exactly one year earlier that she missed a day in my class.
I fully expected that by age 24, Deepa would have earned her doctorate to become the youngest PhD on Wall Street. It would have been my greatest privilege to nature her mind and oversee her education as I would of my own child. Deepa will be missed dearly, but will not be forgotten. I will always remember her fondly as the bright and enthusiastic little child with an overwhelming eagerness to learn. She always spoke dearly of her sister and her family and of her childhood growing up in Orlando, expressing her eagerness to excel at each stage of her young life. The magnitude of her loss from a teachers perspective alone is immeasurable. Deepa was happy to the end, with her achievements and her family.
Pradipkumar Ramanlal
Associate Professor of Finance
University of Central Florida
July 24, 1999