Commodities & Cougars
Bauer College Cougar Commodities Club Paves The Way For New Career Paths
Finance students from the C. T. Bauer College of Business are working together to create a community for those interested in pursuing a career in trading, launching the Cougar Commodities Club this semester.
Finance student Shiva Venugopal is spearheading the new group, which focuses on a specific area of the industry.
“There needs to be a club for students who are interested in (commodities). A space for students to come together to talk about the market, learn what professional skills they might need and meet people who can help them along the way.”
Venugopal joined the Bayou Capital Group (BCG) when he first started at Bauer. BCG is a highly selective, leading undergraduate investment fund that was started in 2019 to help educate students who are interested in pursuing a career in finance.
Shiva Venugopal, BBA Finance
Shiva Venugopal, BBA Finance
BCG covers a wide range of finance related topics from investment to stocks, but Venugopal said he noticed there wasn’t as much focus on trading. He added that he saw other undergraduates who were interested in commodity trading as a career.
“I kind of thought to myself: there needs to be a club for students who are interested in this,” Venugopal said. “A space for students to come together to talk about the market, learn what professional skills they might need and meet people who can help them along the way.”
From there, the Cougar Commodities Club was born.
Part of what inspired this club was the Undergraduate Commodities Competition (UCC) that has been organized by BCG. UCC is a national competition that invites major universities from across the country to participate.
In 2025, there were more than 50 submissions with participating teams traveling across the U.S. from Virginia Tech, Rice University and Cornell University, as well as Erasmus University Rotterdam from the Netherlands.
Gutierrez Energy Management Institute Executive Director Greg Bean has been tapped to be faculty advisor for the commodities club and said that it was quite impressive to see schools come from across the world to participate and just how many companies get involved.
Venugopal thought Bean to be the most well-suited person for the job. He connected with Bean when he started the Energy Commercial Track and Certificate (ECT&C) Program, a track that was launched Fall 2025 that Bean has is spearheading.
“I think the people who would be interested in our club would be found in the commercial energy program,” Venugopal said. “I think with the vision I have for the club and what I think it can do for students...it works hand-in-hand with this program. The best person who can merge those two together would be Greg Bean.”
Gutierrez Energy Management Institute Executive Director Greg Bean
Gutierrez Energy Management Institute Executive Director Greg Bean
Bean said he was happy to get involved and jump in as faculty advisor. He added that it was a nice coincidence that this club was formed around the same time the commercial energy program started.
“We have the new commercial energy program, which is largely industry-driven, and we have the UCC, which has been very student-driven,” Bean said. “It’s nice to have new things that develop come either from the industry or the people that hire our students or the students themselves.”
Venugopal said that he hopes to use this semester to grow the club’s name and set up a solid foundation to welcome new students next year.
He added that he has talked with many students at other schools who have established commodities clubs to build a network of support and learn from them as he develops this club at Bauer.
Venugopal said that some of the visions he has for the club going forward is to establish a fund that students can invest Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) into so they can track their trades and see how interest accrues over time. He added that as the club continues to grow, he wants to establish an alumni network who can mentor current students and help them get in with industries.
“I think the club would benefit a lot from being a Bauer organization,” Venugopal said. “There are a lot of resources that Bauer has to offer that can take us to the next level.”
Built with Shorthand