First-year PhD student makes business and society better through data

Jennifer Anzaldi — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 20:55:38 +0000

First-year PhD student makes business and society better through data Jennifer Anzaldi Mon, 10/14/2024 - 16:55

In This Story

Xinyi Li, a first-year PhD student at ��AV's Costello College of Business, joins the program with a co-authored peer-reviewed paper already published in the United States on African American youth suicidality, alongside a similar publication history in China. Her work reflects a commitment to using data analytics to improve societal and business outcomes.

Li’s academic career spans multiple disciplines. She began in China, earning a bachelor of economics with a concentration in finance from Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics. One of her notable projects during her undergraduate studies involved the planning and risk assessment of insurance for assisted reproductive technologies. She then pursued a master’s in finance at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, where her thesis examined the relationship between IPO underpricing and the reputation and location of underwriters.

Xinyi Li

In 2023, Li earned a second master's degree in business analytics from George Washington University (GWU), where her passion for data analysis led her to a meaningful social science research project. “Last summer, Dr. Saijun Zhang, the first author of the paper, asked me if I would like to join a project studying the factors influencing suicidal behavior in African American teenagers,” Li explained. The study examined how factors such as parenting styles and exposure to violence affect suicidal tendencies.

Li contributed to the project by applying her data analysis expertise, using methods like logistic regression models and correlation analysis to identify key social factors affecting suicidal behavior.

“We found that neglectful parenting was significantly associated with an increase in suicidal ideation,” Xinyi noted. “It was fascinating to see how the analytical techniques I learned in business analytics could be applied to such a critical social issue.”

Li is now pursuing a PhD in operations management (OM) at Costello, a shift motivated by her growing interest in areas like supply chain management and game theory. “When I took a course in supply chain management during my master’s, I realized how exciting it was to apply data models to solve real business problems. That’s what inspired me to move into operations management,” she shared.

During the first year of her PhD program, Li will be focusing on coursework and exploring various research directions under the guidance of Mehmet Altug, associate professor of information systems and operations management.

Looking forward, Li is eager to contribute to both academia and industry. “In the short term, my goal is to become deeply familiar with the literature in operations management and start identifying key research areas,” Li said. “Long term, I hope to publish in top academic journals and find a position where I can continue applying my skills to solve practical problems.”

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School of Business Launches PhD Program

Marianne Klinker — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 20:03:51 +0000

School of Business Launches PhD Program Marianne Klinker Fri, 12/03/2021 - 15:03

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Kevin Rockmann

The brand-new PhD program at George Mason School of Business is off and running, as of the start of the 2021-22 academic year. The launch of the program marks a milestone in the school’s rapidly advancing global research commitment and achievement.

“We have instituted lower teaching loads for research-intensive faculty, summer stipends and a Dean’s Scholars program, as well as increased hiring of research faculty,” says Program Director and Professor of Management Kevin Rockmann. “The PhD program was the next logical thing to make the most competitive environment for talented research faculty possible.”

The program consists of four concentrations – organizational behavior, strategic management, information systems, and operations and supply chain management – each taught by a roster of leading research faculty from the relevant area. Structured to be competitive with Mason’s world-class peers, the curriculum supplies all the features top candidates have come to expect, including core seminars, research methods courses, comprehensive exams, etc. culminating in dissertation.

However, some non-standard choices reflect the desire to “train our students to conduct impactful research that will shape business for generations to come,” to quote the program’s official website. Inspired by the need to foster strong communicators, the steering committee for the PhD program decided to institute a required writing course, so that graduates would be able to translate their innovative ideas and solutions for any audience. Another somewhat unusual element of the curriculum is a credited course in field research. “Students need to go out and engage with an organization, or an organizational data-set, or other real-world problem,” Rockmann says.

To further foster links between academics and business practitioners, Rockmann hopes to recruit a diverse group of candidates with career paths both on and off the tenure track. Mid-career professionals looking toward a future as adjunct or affiliate business school faculty are just as welcome to apply as dyed-in-the-wool career academics. These two camps have much to offer one another, Rockmann says. Executives bring practical knowledge of organizational contexts and a deep pool of contacts; academics contribute vital research and analytical skills.

“The ideal in five years is to have a very strong mix of these students, who are progressing together, who are starting to graduate or at least at dissertation stage,” Rockmann says.

For now, though, the program has just one enrollee. Fanshu Li, based in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, has started remote coursework in the information systems concentration, and hopes to be present on the Fairfax campus by spring 2022. Rockmann explains that the Commonwealth of Virginia gave final approval for the program in January 2021, which left the school leadership with the question of whether to pause the program until the following year or move ahead despite the severely limited time available for recruitment. In the end, they opted to start sooner with fewer students. Rockmann expects the program to expand significantly in the next academic year.

Rockmann’s eagerness to get going no doubt has something to do with the PhD program’s long gestation period. The turning point may have come in 2016, when Mason first attained Carnegie R1 status as a top research institution in the U.S. Rockmann says robust support at both the university and school levels was crucial in helping clear the hurdles this time around.

“It’s been an entire-school effort to bring this to fruition, with the broad support of the faculty and several administrations. We’re excited to see where this can go,” he says.

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Costello College of Business News

PhD in Business Program