Ariana Ohana is now a first year student in IBMBA (International Business MBA) program, NSYSU. Before she came to Taiwan, she was an engineer at E-Z-GO, a company that designs and manufactures golf cars. After three and a half years of hard work, the utility vehicle bumper she designed has won her a US patent in December 2015.

The utility vehicle bumper is designed with layers of honeycomb-shaped plastic in the front and steel structure in the back connecting the front part to the car body. Both shape and materials can absorb the energy of a crash efficiently and then protect the car and passengers from serious damage. The design, materials and function of the utility vehicle bumper makes it the first bumper use in golf cars.

From 2011 to 2014, Ariana worked as an engineer in the new product development department at E-Z-GO and was mainly responsible for the bumper and canopy design (in other series of cars she worked on seats and front panels, etc.). Besides designing, she was also involved in the product manufacturing process.

Although she has a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering and is good at designing and testing, she often felt short of skills in business management when communicating with other departments. She also wanted to know more about the process of designing different equipment for different customers. The thought about going back to school to learn more knowledge about management popped on her mind.

Many reasons made her choose IBMBA program in NSYSU. Born and raised in Atlanta, GA USA, Ariana has many connections with Taiwan: her stepfather who raised her is Taiwanese and her brother is also pursuing a master’s degree in NCU. Also, she fell in love with this place especially the beaches (no beach in Atlanta), after a tour around Taiwan in 2014.

Talking about the IBMBA program, Ariana thinks that her past work experiences truly helps in class with problem solving and discussing with teachers and classmates from different fields. Ariana also mentioned that although the engineer job was stressful she still felt sad after quitting, but on the other hand, she believes it will be worth it after graduating from the IBMBA program and then get a higher position in company!