School of Management doctoral students honored for research, teaching

By Matthew Biddle

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Three minutes are on the clock, and 11 doctoral students from the University at Buffalo School of Management are ready to present the research they’ve spent months—or even years—working on so far.

Giving rapid-fire presentations via Zoom to UB faculty, peers and community members, the students share their insights on a broad array of topics: from how artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies are disrupting sustainable supply chain management; to how CEOs’ tweets influence investor reactions to earnings forecasts; to factors that affect the use of electronic medical records in aging populations.

It was all part of the 10th annual PhD Showcase, held virtually on April 9 to celebrate the research, publications and success of the School of Management’s doctoral students.

In the end, two students won Best Poster Presentation and each collected a $1,000 prize to support future conference attendance.

One poster winner, Qiongwen (Ivy) Lei, a doctoral student in the Finance Department, shared her research that compiled data from more than 9,000 corporate bonds to see how the location of the bond issuers’ headquarters affected return volatility. Her study showed that institutional investors could manage their portfolio risk by diversifying the geographic locations of their investments.

Huiru (Evangeline) Yang, from the Organization and Human Resources Department, was also lauded for her poster, which documented her research into how macro-faultlines, or demographic divides, influenced each state’s mask usage and COVID-19 deaths.

After the poster presentations, the School of Management handed out three additional awards—including another for Yang, who won the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence for her exceptional promise and performance as a teacher within the doctoral program. Yang received a $500 prize to support future conference attendance.

Zhiru Lin, from the Accounting and Law Department, was named Rising Star for her exceptional early performance in the program, based on her coursework, engagement with faculty on research and contributions to the intellectual atmosphere of the school. Lin, who won a $1,000 prize for the honor, presented at the event on her research into how the presence of “dual holders”—those who hold both loans and equity in a firm—affects insider trading.

Finally, Snehal Hora, a doctoral student in the Organization and Human Resources Department, was recognized with the Dean’s Award for Research Excellence, which goes to the senior doctoral student who demonstrates the highest level of potential as a scholar based on journal publications, research awards and presentations or papers at top conferences. Among other accomplishments, Hora recently led a study published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, which found that an open, supportive workplace culture can increase women’s creativity and performance. She received a $2,500 prize to support her dissertation or conference attendance.

During the event, attendees also heard remarks from Paul Tesluk, professor and dean of the UB School of Management, and guest speaker Lemma Senbet, PhD ’75, the William E. Mayer Chair Professor of Finance in the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. Senbet started his talk with an anecdote about how UB cultivated his passion for mentoring students—and how he hopes current doctoral students will embrace the “multiplier effect” of mentorship as they launch their own careers.