It was the most
difficult challenge Mihir Mehta ever had.
With every step,
his lungs heaved as he coped with a lack of oxygen that made him feel as
if he
was under water. The easiest route was to turn around and leave. But
there's
only one Mount Kilimanjaro, and although scaling Africa's tallest
mountain can
be excruciating near the peak - 19,334 feet above sea level - reaching
the
summit after a seven-day climb was worth the struggle.
Mehta is a high
achiever. In addition to climbing mountains - he's also reached the
summit of
Mount Kosciuszko, the tallest mountain in his native Australia - Mehta
recently
earned his Ph.D. in accounting from MIT's Sloan School of Management
while on a
five-year fellowship. As part of his doctoral program, he also took
classes in
business and law at Harvard.
This semester,
Mehta is joining the Fox School's Department of Accounting as an
assistant professor.
Most recently, he worked as a teaching assistant at Sloan, instructing
both
graduate and undergraduate students in financial accounting, financial
statement analysis and valuation, and taxes and business strategy. In
2006-2007, he received the Sloan Outstanding Teaching Assistant of the
Year Award.
"The breadth of the faculty really
impressed me," Mehta said, citing faculty members' specialties in
executive
compensation and financial reporting, among other areas. "Having so much
breadth in the department was attractive, especially in this early stage
of my
career."