Professor Pavlov earned a BS degree in Physics/Computer Science and a PhD in Economics from University of Southern California and an MBA from Cornell University. He has taught at WPI since 2002. He has been to many universities in the US, Russia and Western Europe, but he thinks WPI is like no other university. The project-based approach at WPI allows him to involve students in research projects. He values the opportunity to include students in his research through IQPs and MQPs.
Professor Pavlov’s expertise is in multi-sector analysis that accounts for feedback and resistance to change often exhibited by real systems. His research examines the interests of stakeholders and takes a system-wide view that combines relevant technological, psychological, social, and economic factors. He has published on artificial stock markets, telecommunications, online file sharing, digital marketing, trends in medical education, and peace economics. Typically, he manages a portfolio of research projects and collaborates with teams of co-authors throughout the world. He also supervises research by teams of students. One of his recent research projects was on the viability of businesses with strong network externalities. Currently, he is leading a project to develop an analytical framework that explains the evolution of risk perception in populations. In 2011, Professor Pavlov completed a rigorous two-year Executive MBA program at Cornell University. As part of that program, he recently completed a year-long team project on microfinance. His client was an advisory and finance firm from Dubai. The firm operates in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. After his team conducted market analysis, which involved interviewing finance professionals and traveling to Egypt to perform due diligence, they formulated a strategic plan for the firm and recommended a list of products and services that the company could offer to microfinance organizations.
Professor Pavlov has a keen interest in the economics of the education sector. He teaches class-based and online courses on money and banking, economics, system dynamics and telecommunications. Besides teaching and writing papers, he has presented his work at international conferences and organized threads at international research conferences. He reviews regularly for journals, foundations and publishers. On the administrative side, Pavlov has been a coordinator for an online graduate program in system dynamics and active in the university faculty governance. He’s a faculty advisor to the System Dynamics Club and a Fellow of the Coleman Foundation (program directed at WPI by Frank Hoy). As part of the Coleman Foundation fellowship, he has worked on incorporating elements of entrepreneurship into his teaching. He was also a faculty advisor for the INSIGHT program at WPI in the fall of 2010 and 2011 and contributed to the WPI success in student retention in the “INSIGHT 1st Year Experience” program.
He has been active in the graduate program by teaching online graduate courses, supervising graduate-directed research, and being a member of a Ph.D. committee. During his academic career, Pavlov has taken leadership roles in the International System Dynamics Society, which is the main professional organization in his academic field. He served as the secretary and was then elected president of the Economics Chapter.
