It is my pleasure to announce the results of this year's INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition. The eight finalists were selected out of a group of over seventy submissions based on evaluations by blind reviewers. Finalists presented their dissertation proposals to a distinguished panel of judges during the INFORMS Annual Conference this weekend. All of the finalists did an outstanding job of presenting their proposals and the judges had the unenviable task of selecting only two of them based on quality, potential contribution, and innovativeness.
The winner of the 2020 INFORMS Dissertation Proposal Competition is:
Summer Jackson
MIT Sloan School of Management
"Understanding Organizational Inequality at 'Well Intentioned' Companies: The Case of ShopCo's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policies and Practices"
The runner-up of the 2020 INFORMS Dissertation Proposal Competition is:
Yu Tse Heng
University of Washington, Foster School of Business
"The Grief-Work Interface: How Employees Negotiate Work after Losing a Loved One"
If you know either of them, or any of the other six finalists, please congratulate them for this significant accomplishment.
The other finalists for the 2020 competition were:
Seojin Kim
University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business
"Essays on Technology Change and Firm Capabilities in Nascent Markets: Evidence from the Bionic Prosthetic Industry"
Rebecca Karp
Boston University, Questrom School of Business
"From Conceptual to Commercial: How Novel Innovations Gain Market Traction"
Karren Knowlton
University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School
Trailblazer Mindsets: When Being Under-represented Helps You Help Others"
Gauri Subramani
University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business
"Try, try, try again? Persistence and the Gender Innovation Gap"
Kylie J. Hwang
Columbia University, Columbia Business School
"Entrepreneurship as a Way to Overcome Labor Market Discrimination: Evidence from Formerly Incarcerated Individuals"
Audrey Holm
Boston University, Questrom School of Business
"Mobilizing the Unemployable: How Bridge Workers prepare Returning Citizens for the Labor Market"
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the panel of judges who evaluated all of the proposals. Each judge generously volunteered their time for the competition and provided the finalists with feedback on their dissertations. This year's panel of judges was:
Sigal Barsade University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School
Alfonso Gambardella Bocconi University
Olenka Kacperczyk London Business School
Sameer Srivastava University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business
Michael Tushman Harvard Business School
Melissa Valentine Stanford University
Mary Zellmer-Bruhn University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management
Finally, I would like to thank Gautam Ahuja, Editor-in-Chief of Organization Science and Chris Asher, Managing Editor of Organization Science for the tremendous amount of help and support they provided in managing the proposal review and competition process.
Best,
Pete
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Pedro Aceves
Assistant Professor
Department of Management & Technology
Bocconi University
Via Roentgen 1
20136 Milan, Italy
pedro.aceves@unibocconi.itwww.peteaceves.com@peteaceves
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