 Rahul
Mehta 
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The Horatio Alger formula is no myth at the University of Houston. A case in hand is the life of Rahul Mehta. Born in Bombay, India, he came for his education to the United States in 1979 at the age of 17. With little money and the high hopes of his family pinned on his future, he went to Chicago and then to Houston where his family had a good friend to watch over him. “I...introduced him to Tom Berrisford, a local Oracle executive."During his first semester at the University of Houston, he enrolled in a Bauer College of Business computer class. It was taught by Professor Richard Scamell who recalls, “Rahul didn’t always make it to class in those days, not because he was intentionally cutting class but because he would get so wrapped up in helping other students solve their computer-oriented problems that he would lose track of time.” Ph.D. students working in the computer lab were trying unsuccessfully to run statistical analysis software (SAS) using data stored in an Oracle database. In his spare time, Mehta created a program that solved their problems. Scamell recalls, “When Rahul told me about his idea to market a program that he’d developed that extracted data from an Oracle database and formatted it as an SAS data set, I supported his idea. I helped him create some of the documentation and promotional material for the product. I suggested that Oracle would like to see the product and introduced him to Tom Berrisford, a local Oracle executive.”
Oracle didn’t buy the product, but Berrisford assured Mehta that the company would refer customers to him who needed such a product. In a matter of months, Mehta’s home answering machine was filled with requests. Encouraged by this positive response, Mehta, 23-years-old, decided to form a company: Software Interfaces. Scamell co-signed the $750 per month lease on Mehta’s first office space. Thinking back on this, Mehta says, “I knew Dr. Scamell was a special person. I could never imagine a person, without any selfish motives, so willing to help someone by doing this.” Mehta remembers, “Dr. Scamell was one of the most unique professors at the University of Houston. He always went out of his way to personally help students including coming in on weeknights and weekends for his students.” Nine years later, the company was acquired by Platinum Technology. Mehta founded NuView, Inc. which became a hatchery for three more products: ManageX, ClusterX, and StorageX. “During these times,” Mehta said, “our relationship grew beyond the student professor relationship. We have stayed in touch for the past twenty years. Dr. Scamell has been a great advisor during the growth of my various companies. He also helped us by referring excellent candidates from the University of Houston business school.” Mehta is now in a position to give something back to help the next generation. Each year he provides scholarships to ten Bauer College international students. He established similar scholarships in the University of Houston’s Department of Computer Science and at Texas A&M University. Mehta says of his time as a student, “The University of Houston provided me an excellent environment to learn new technology. It has been a pioneer in introducing new ideas to students. In addition, it has faculty members who really care about their students. I was helped by many of them during my life as a student. I can not imagine going to any school in this country and having this kind of personal and caring experience.” "Dr. Scamell made a difference in the lives of many people." Says, Scamell, “I may have been one of the first who offered Rahul help and advice, but believe me, Rahul’s accomplishments are the result of years of very hard work on his part.” And Mehta always remembers the starting point of the journey, “Dr. Scamell made a difference in the lives of many people.”
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