Lehigh University creates PA 100 Index to help businesses and students

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A group of Lehigh University grad students have created an index tracking the performance of the top 100 publicly traded companies in Pennsylvania.

The PA 100 Index is intended to be used by businesses, local governments and economic development authorities to guage the economic health of business in the state as well as assess business opportunities, inform career decisions and conduct in-depth research.

But professor Patrick Zoro, who manages the project, said it’s also about giving students in Lehigh’s Master’s in Financial Engineering program real world experience in the field.

“It shows there are more efficient ways to teach students practical applications of trending business needs,” Zoro said.

In fact, Wasti Khan, a master’s student who is graduating this spring, has already gotten a job because of his participation in the project.

Khan joined the PA 100 Index project in 2022. He now leads the group and helps develop the index by translating the methodology into code. In June, he will join Volos Software of Boston.

“They were looking for someone who had hands-on experience and weren’t finding any students with these skills,” Khan said. “I learned a lot developing the program and how indexes are used in business. I think that it is a market that is going to continue to grow.”

Zoro agreed that more and more investments are being made using indexes and being able to develop and work with indexes is becoming an increasingly valuable career skill.

The index, which can be found at https://pa-index.lehigh.edu/, targets anyone interested in Pennsylvania’s economic health, including investors, businesses, and policymakers. The list includes companies from industries spanning health care, communications, real estate, energy, utilities, financials, industrials, consumer and more — providing a comprehensive view of the state’s economic trends and top companies’ performance.

And it’s a gift that keeps on giving, not only for those who will use the information found on the site, but for university students as well.

Now that the site has been created, the project has moved from development to maintenance, but Zoro said now a new group of students are getting involved.

“We’re now involving marketing students to reach out to these companies to know this is a product you can use,” Zoro said.

What’s next for the index, besides its practical use, remains to be seen as he graduates Khan said the next step in the index is for future students to decide.