Faculty

I am a researcher on organization behavior, people analytics and entrepreneurship related topics, with particular focus on applying advanced econometrics and big data based research designs. I have particular expertise in the digital economy, including Internet video, sports analytics, Web-3 and electronic gaming.  I have published my research widely in top field journals, including Organization Science and Industrial & Corporate Change.  I also teach classes on general business strategy, technology management, entrepreneurship and the digital economy.  I ...

I love teaching entrepreneurship because of the amazing innovations that students ideate and then create businesses around. I like the quote attributed to both Homer (the philosopher, not the father of Bart) and Steve Jobs, "The journey is the reward." I'm honored to be able to guide the WPI students through their journeys of not only learning about business ownership, but also actually building something - whether it’s a prototype, a minimally viable product (MVP) or a company. Being in a university setting provides students with a safety net to fail fast and pivot their ideas. No ...

Micah Chase has been a founder and CEO for over 25 years successfully growing several startups into multi-million dollar companies. Experience in all phases of an enterprise, B2B, B2C, managing P&L, setting strategic direction, change management, product development, multichannel marketing, business development, contract negotiation, regulatory compliance, and M&A. • Checkerboard Ltd (1992-2017) is a leader in the design and manufacturing of fine social stationery. As CEO, Chase selected the strategic direction to navigate a mature industry resulting in consistent double-digit year ...

Dr. Dunbar is currently a tenured Associate Professor of Finance at WPI. In addition to his extensive experience in teaching and research, he has a wealth of industry experience working with several fortune 500 companies in various capacities.Professor Dunbar's research has appeared in leading economics and finance journals such as Quantitative Finance, Economic Modeling, International Review of Financial Analysis, and Research in International Business and Finance, amongst others. His research has received considerable attention via citations, and he regularly presents his work at leading ...

Rob joins WPI from Fidelity Investments, where he spent 23 years in the finance industry, holding multiple executive leadership positions including VP of Strategy and Planning, VP Human Resource Systems, and VP Finance, Procurement, and Accounting Systems. Rob also previously held positions in both the public and private sectors for companies in the manufacturing and nonprofit industries.At Fidelity, Rob exercised his passion for coaching and mentoring by leading multiple mentoring programs and dynamically presenting motivating talks and panel discussions across multiple forums and regions. ...

Dr. Hansong Pu has decades of managerial and entrepreneurial experiences with international corporations and small businesses. He spent his past eight years teaching at Hangzhou Dianzi University in China and WPI. Meanwhile, he worked with colleagues at both universities to start collaboration programs that serve the students and faculties on both sides, including the WPI China IQP Center. In addition, he worked with a team of young professionals in Boston area to launch an online-offline computer science education program which has inspired and enabled thousands of pre-teens and teens to ...

I have been practicing law for 37 years with a concentration in corporate, business and healthcare law.  I have been at Mirick, O’Connell, DeMallie Lougee, LLP since 1980.  I am currently Of Counsel in the Corporate and Business Department. I began my law practice in Boston at the firm of Bingham, Dana Gould.  While at Bingham, I participated in a pro bono rotation with Boston Legal Services in the Fields Corner office in Dorchester.  After Bingham, I joined Burt Taylor, an international firm with offices in Saudi Arabia, and worked in its Al Kobar, Saudi Arabia office representing U.S. and ...

I teach both graduate and undergraduate courses, as well as advise PhD projects, IQPs and MQPs. I enjoy teaching because it's a dynamic and innovative process that challenges me to continually evaluate and adjust my teaching strategies to prepare my students for today’s global and competitive business environment. Teaching is also one the most rewarding experiences in my career because it allows me to witness my students' growth and accomplishments.Similarly, research is a dynamic and innovative process, and I truly enjoy it. My research focuses on the use and impact of technology in ...

Dr. Kordzadeh joined the faculty of the Business School at WPI in July 2017. He received his Ph.D. in Business Administration with an emphasis on Information Technology from the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research interests include health informatics, social media, information privacy, and business intelligence and analytics. His research has been presented at national and international conferences including Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences and Americas Conference on Information Systems and published in such peer-reviewed journals as Journal of the Association ...

Prior to accepting my faculty position with WPI in 2019, I held tenured positions with Troy University and Auburn University at Montgomery, retiring from the Alabama System in 2019. During this time frame, I also visited the University of Louisiana at LaFayette. My teaching philosophy focuses on practical application of Information Technology and I have taught courses across the spectrum of management information systems, concentrating on systems analysis, database management systems, e-commerce, computer networking, and information systems strategy. My research streams focus on organizational ...

WPI provides an environment that values both teaching and research, which is ideal for me. I enjoy teaching at WPI because students are interested in learning and willing to work hard. My teaching focuses on how business, healthcare, and nonprofit organizations can best use computing technologies, such as database systems, electronic health records systems, and mobile apps. Students in my classes learn to design computing applications that meet the needs of organizations. Students understand the value of learning these topics, and as a result, they work hard to learn the principles and how to ...

I enjoy teaching because it allows me to interact with students who have the potential to make the world a better place using technology. I continually innovate in my courses to ensure students enjoy the learning experience, learn the key concepts and skills related to information systems through real world examples, have an opportunity to learn from each other, learn to present themselves as professionals, and most importantly learn to use or develop technology to make a difference. WPI provides a learning environment that allows me to accomplish these principles with its emphasis in theory ...

Prior to arriving at WPI in 2010, I held tenure-track positions with the University of Wisconsin system. I have visited at Cal Poly-SLO, University of Toledo, and Arizona State University. My teaching centers on software development, large business systems, and innovative uses of IT. My overarching research addresses organizational aspects of human-computer interaction with special emphasis on e-health, computer-mediated communication, and technology support for software development teams. I have published more than 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals, books, and conference proceedings.From ...

Richard Gram has taught courses at WPI since 2007.  Originally hired by the Management Department, he spent several years teaching for Corporate and Professional Education at customer locations around New England.  Currently he teaches classes for the Business School and Civil Engineering.  He has taught Project Management (MIS 576 and CE 580), Project Evaluation (CE 3025), Innovating with IT (MIS 500), IT Policy and Strategy (MIS 581), and Business Intelligence (MIS 584).Prior to teaching at WPI, Rich taught courses including Database Design, Systems Analysis, and Website ...

Professor Gonsalves is currently a full time instructor in the Business School. He is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Management Science.Professor Gonsalves’ career has spanned thirty five years in the technology field, having held positions in design, applications, sales, marketing, business development and management. He is the holder of 9 patents and has presented at a variety of industry conferences in the area of RFID.For the past twenty five years, Professor Gonsalves has been teaching ...

Being an educator is more than just distributing facts and figures; it's demonstrating the importance of this knowledge in a way that can be relevant for every learner. It's not truly knowledge until the student can grasp and apply it. I consider myself to be an advocate for knowledge - encouraging learning and providing the tools needed to be successful and independent thinkers. I take any opportunity possible to introduce new technologies and social networking behaviors that I feel are relevant into my daily classroom activities. My existence in the classroom is a partnership with the ...

I joined the faculty of the Business School at WPI in July 2020. I received my Ph.D. in Business Administration with an emphasis on marketing from West Virginia University. In my research I focus on studying how consumers make financial and health-related decisions, what biases they have when making those decisions, and what can the government and public policy makers do to protect them against harmful marketing practices. My research has been published in the Journal of Consumer Association, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, and the International Journal of Marketing ...

Professor Shah has 'done' marketing and now she 'teaches' marketing at the WPI Business School. She has a diverse industry experience in the marketing/brand management function of mid-size to large corporations across consumer goods, retail, and real estate verticals. In academics, she aspires to play her role as a researcher (knowledge creation) and teacher (knowledge dissemination). Her research questions, in the context of discovery, attempt to explain and understand interesting and challenging marketing phenomena that have not received much research attention. She is also skilled at ...

I enjoy teaching at WPI because students bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm to their learning; I am also inspired by their optimism. My teaching also reflects topics that motivate me:  detailed process design in our Industrial Engineering program, exploring the implications of operational excellence in our graduate programs, and advancing health care systems. My research explores the impact of lean improvement methods in healthcare settings, as well as applying work systems and modeling approaches to design more effective healthcare delivery processes. I am also interested in the ...

The application of Industrial Engineering and mathematical knowledge has always been a rewarding challenge for me. I draw on a variety of Industrial Engineering techniques including optimization and simulation. My research has included evaluating anti-human trafficking efforts, computationally characterizing episodes of care from health insurance claim records, and examining the impact of physician incentives on patient outcomes, as well as research related to mental health, patient flow and practice guidelines.   In 2020-2021 I was a Fulbright Scholar at the Ukrainian Catholic ...

My research agenda takes advantage of my educational background. The first area of research is supply chain networks equilibrium. In this research stream, I model supply chain networks to understand the interactions of agents who act in their own self-interest and their impact to business and society. A broad class of research question in this area is motivated by the interaction between supply chain networks and sustainable and responsible decision-making. The focus in my second area of research is on Blockchain technology contributions in the supply chain networks. Blockchain, as a new ...

Joseph Sarkis is a Professor of Management within Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Business School. He previously served as a faculty member at Clark University and the University of Texas at Arlington. His teaching and research interests are in the fields of environmental sustainability, operations and supply chain management. He is the author or co-author of over 500 publications. His research is widely cited and earned the designation of highly cited researcher for seven years from 2016-2022 from Thomson-Reuters/Clarivate Analytics (Web-of-Science). He has also been noted as ...

I am interested in manufacturing and industrial engineering. My main interests lie at the intersection of manufacturing processes and the financial aspect of the business that relates to these processes. I see my mission as enabling students to become leaders in a business environment and helping them extract value from the processes that drive the organization. We do this by using tools like axiomatic design and Lean Six Sigma methods. I like to frame the lectures in such a way that the students picture themselves in the field, supporting or leading members of the organizations and having an ...

I am Associate Professor of Operations and Industrial Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), with courtesy professorships in Mathematical Sciences and Data Science. I hold a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. My objective is to use science and technology to assist real human need by improving systems that serve vulnerable peoples, such as refugees and asylum seekers, survivors of human trafficking, and children in the foster care system. I believe that the convergence of novel analytical technologies and open-source software can create ...

Joe Zhu is Professor of Operations Analytics in the Business School, Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is an internationally recognized expert in methods of performance evaluation and benchmarking using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), and his research interests are in the areas of operations and business analytics, productivity modeling, and performance evaluation and benchmarking. He has published and co-edited several books focusing on performance evaluation and benchmarking using DEA and developed the DEAFrontier software. With more than more than 130 journal articles, books, and ...

Michael F. Ahern is a Director of Corporate and Professional Education at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and an Instructor for WPI’s Foisie Business School.  He leads the group that develops graduate education programs for working professionals and corporations.  Mike’s personal specialty areas are: Power Systems; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Cybersecurity; and Operational Risk.  Mike improves the quality of the student experience by working with the faculty to update the curriculum and share best practices in course delivery, both online and classroom.Mike has taught graduate ...

I enjoy teaching an interrelated series of topics that combine current industrial methodologies with the basics from academic study that form the foundations for commercial practice.  The WPI classes give me an opportunity to share, mentor and steward students through simulated and practical problems, guiding them to plausible and realistic solutions.My research interests include; product, process and system design, with the integration of; innovation, development, selling and customer support. I am a consultant to high tech industries addressing both technology insertion and business ...

Dr. Monat is a Professor of Practice and Director at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he teaches courses in Operations Risk Management, Systems Thinking, System Optimization, Operations Management, Business Practices, and Project Management. Dr. Monat has both management and teaching experience in the medical device, separations, food & beverage, consulting, and environmental industries, having served as President of Harvard Clinical Technology, President of Business Growth Specialists, Inc., as Sr. Vice-President of Pall Corporation, and in a variety of positions for Koch Membrane ...

Since arriving at WPI in 1990, I have had the great pleasure of teaching a variety of organization studies undergraduate and graduate courses, engaging in organization studies research and theory development, and offering service to the university, the Business School, and my field. With respect to teaching, I have framed my role in the classroom as helping technically-minded students become more cognizant and mindful of themselves and of the human and behavioral dimensions of organization life. I engage students via experiential methods including digital storytelling, ...

How do leaders work across disciplines, organizations, cultures, and networks to co-create and implement novel solutions, sustainable human-centered change, and entrepreneurial ventures?  Over the past twenty years, this question has motivated Elizabeth Long Lingo's research, innovative project-based teaching, and efforts to advance organizational transformation and policy change to forge more equitable and creatively vibrant organizations, cities, and fields of enterprise.  As an ethnographer of work and organizations, Professor Long Lingo is especially interested ...

My research is focused in two areas: Organizational aesthetics takes seriously the idea that management is as much an art as it is a science, and applies art-based scholarship and practice to management and organizations. Reflective practice is the ability to analyze our own actions and learn from that how to be more effective, ethical, and artful as managers and leaders. At the heart of my work as a researcher and teacher, is my own practice as a playwright. My plays have been performed in England, France, Poland, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, and the USA. From my work in the theater, I have ...

Brent currently serves as the Assistant Dean of The Business School and is responsible for accreditation, finance, and operations for 45 faculty and staff, 200+ undergraduate majors, and 200+ graduate students across six programs including an MBA and PhD program.  He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Connecticut, an MBA from WPI, and a PhD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University.  He was selected as a Senior Fellow in the Next Jump Leadership Think Tank from 2020 to 2022 and attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education Management Development Program in ...

As an adjunct faculty member at WPI for 15 years and a WPI graduate, I am proud to share the experience of a successful multi-disciplined career with current WPI students. The foundation and preparation for my engineering, financial, general management, and consulting career and the confidence and resourcefulness to succeed as an entrepreneur resulted largely from my education at WPI. It is a great privilege to contribute to the continuing achievement and reputation for excellence at WPI. I have developed and delivered courses in Negotiations, Strategy and Policy for Technology Businesses ...

Jed’s organizational behavior experience is shaped through 15+ years as a human resource leader.  His experience includes work as a Change Agent, Director/Manager, and Internal and External Consultant.  His consulting services focus on performance management, total rewards, HR analytics, and workplace learning, and his research and teaching experience includes the areas of organizational performance improvement, competency identification, and rewards management. Jed’s industry experience in human resources includes higher education, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, distribution and ...