Recent Stuart Faculty Publications and Presentations
Faculty at Stuart School of Business engage in dynamic, collaborative research that is both relevant and valuable to the daily work of business and industry professionals, and that advances theoretical understanding.
Li Cai
“Causal Structure of International Stock Markets” published in The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, March 2026. The co-author is Stuart Ph.D. in Finance student Jiachen Liu.
“R&D Premium: The Intangible Side of Value” published in the Journal of Investing, August 2023. Co-authors are Associate Professor of Finance Ricky Cooper and Di He (Ph.D. MSC ’20), Postdoctoral Research Center of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Beijing.
- View profile: Associate Professor of Finance Li Cai
Stanton Hudja
“Strategies in the Multi-Armed Bandit” published in Experimental Economics, November 2025.
View profile: Assistant Professor of Business Analytics and Strategy Stanton Hudja
Sang Baum “Solomon” Kang
“Green Dreams, Risky Assets? A Study of High-Yield Green Bonds,” published in the Global Finance Journal, September 2025. Read more in Illinois Tech News.
“Promoting Financial Stability of Oil Producers: Operational vs. Financial Hedging,” published in the Journal of Financial Stability, August 2023. Assistant Professor of Finance You Lu (Stuart Ph.D. MSC ’20), Soochow University, China, is a co-author.
“Model-free Analysis of Real Option Exercise Probability and Timing,” published in Quantitative Finance, August 2023.
“What Information Variables Predict Bitcoin Returns? A Dimension-Reduction Approach,” published in the Journal of Alternative Investments, March 2023. Co-authors are Associate Professor of Quantitative Management Jailin (Jolene) Zhao (Stuart Ph.D. MSC ’17), St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, and Associate Quantitative Analyst Yao "Jason" Xie (Stuart M.S. Finance ’15, Ph.D. MSC ’21), Morningstar Inc. Read more in Illinois Tech news.
- View profile: Associate Professor of Finance Sang Baum “Solomon” Kang
Wenchen Wang
Interviewed on The 21st Show on Illinois Public Media on September 23, 2025, about a research study by the Project for Middle Class Renewal that she co-authored titled “What Makes Work More Than Just a Living? Determinants of Employment Quality in Illinois.” Listen to the interview.
“The Labor Market Effects of Occupational Licensing in the Public Sector,” published in Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, August 2025.
Served as a panelist on The 21st Show on Illinois Public Media on December 19, 2024. Discussion focused on the lasting wage gaps across Illinois in which women get paid less than men, including the perspective of women of color. Listen to the discussion.
Co-author of “What Makes Work More Than Just a Living? Determinants of Employment Quality in Illinois,” report of the Project for Middle Class Renewal, School of Labor and Employment Relations, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, published October, 2024.
- View profile: Industry Assistant Professor of Business Economics Wenchen Wang
Bruno Castelo-Branco
Received honorable mention recognition in the 2024 John A. Howard/AMA Doctoral Dissertation Awards given by the American Marketing Association. Castelo-Branco completed his dissertation, titled “Hot Triggers vs Cold Preferences: Consumption Patterns in Digital Media,” at Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
- View profile: Assistant Professor of Business Analytics and Strategy Bruno Castelo-Branco
Weslynne Ashton
Appeared on the Provocateurs podcast (episode 31) on the topic “Profit Is Not the Only Value” in March 2025. Discussion focused on the need for businesses to move beyond purely financial metrics to adopt a more holistic view of value creation and regeneration. The monthly podcast is a collaboration between Thinkers50 and Deloitte.
Featured with experts from the School of Design at Politecnico di Milano in a panel discussion on the role of design-led innovation in the modern food industry. The event, celebrating Italian Design Day, was presented by the Consulate General of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago, in partnership with the Institute of Design.
Panelist in a discussion about food safety and local food access on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight program on September 5, 2024. Watch the video.
Featured speaker at Leaders Who Make a Difference 2024, a live virtual event sponsored by Harvard Business Review on April 9, 2024. Ashton presented a mini-masterclass on “The Promises, Pitfalls, and Trade-offs of the Circular Economy.” The annual conference brings together top executives and management thought leaders to discuss ways that businesses can create positive change in response to some of today’s most significant social, political, and environmental challenges.
Leader of Community Food Mobilization in Chicago, a research project awarded a $1 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) in collaboration with the National Science Foundation to investigate how to harness the power of food procurement by large, public institutions in order to shift food production and distribution systems toward greater racial equity, sustainability, and resilience. The award is part of the NSF’s Civic Innovation Challenge program. Co-principal investigators are M. Zia Hassan Endowed Professor Elizabeth J. Durango-Cohen at Stuart and Associate Professor of Civic and Community Design Maura Shea at Institute of Design. Read more in Illinois Tech news.
Named by Thinkers50 to the Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2024 in recognition of her work “designing systems and generating solutions to make the world a more sustainable, and equitable, place.” January 2024
Delivered the keynote address, on the topic of improving food security through the circular economy, at the second annual Sustainability Symposium at University of Wisconsin-Madison on October 25, 2023.
Podcast about “Addressing the Surge in U.S. Food Waste: Investing in Food Waste Reduction Strategies,” on MarketScale, posted September 20, 2023.
“Measuring the Adoption of Circular Economy at the Company Level: Usefulness and Applicability of the OCE Index,” published in the Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering, August 2023.
- View profile: Professor of Environmental Management and Sustainability Weslynne Ashton
Benjamin E. Van Vliet
Named co-editor in chief, with Associate Professor of Finance Ricky Cooper, of the scholarly journal Algorithmic Finance in 2024.
“A Model of Decentralized Oversight for the Digital Asset Industry with an Example Anti-Money Laundering/Know-Your-Customer Standard” published in Journal of Payments Strategy & Systems, Spring 2024. Read more in Illinois Tech news.
“Using ‘Greeks’ from a Dynamic Program Real Option Framework to Quantitatively Manage an Innovation Project/Startup,” published in Wilmott, January 2024. A co-author is Assistant Professor of Analytics Andrew Kumiega.
“Synchronizing Decisions: A Dynamic Programming, Real Option Framework for New Product Development with Stage-to-Stage Correlations” published in Wilmott, March 2023. A co-author is Assistant Professor of Analytics Andrew Kumiega.
- View profile: Associate Professor of Finance Benjamin E. Van Vliet
Siva K. Balasubramanian
“Mitigating Healthcare Supply Chain Challenges Under Disaster Conditions: A Holistic AI-based Analysis of Social Media Data,” published in the International Journal of Production Research, February 2024. Read more in Illinois Tech news.
“AI: The Land of Lingering Fear and Emergent Hope,” commentary in The Well News, August 30, 2023.
- View profile: Harold L. Stuart Endowed Chair in Business Siva Balasubramanian
Andrew Kumiega
“Using ‘Greeks’ from a Dynamic Program Real Option Framework to Quantitatively Manage an Innovation Project/Startup,” published in Wilmott, January 2024. A co-author is Associate Professor of Finance Benjamin E. Van Vliet.
“Synchronizing Decisions: A Dynamic Programming, Real Option Framework for New Product Development with Stage-to-Stage Correlations” published in Wilmott, March 2023. A co-author is Associate Professor of Finance Benjamin E. Van Vliet.
- View profile: Assistant Professor of Analytics Andrew Kumiega
Ricky “Rick” Cooper
Named co-editor in chief, with Associate Professor of Finance Ben Van Vliet, of the scholarly journal Algorithmic Finance in 2024.
“R&D Premium: The Intangible Side of Value” published in the Journal of Investing, August 2023. Co-authors are Associate Professor of Finance Li Cai and Di He (Ph.D. MSC ’20), Postdoctoral Research Center of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Beijing.
“A ‘Quality’ Quality Factor” published in the Journal of Portfolio Management, April 2023. The co-author is Senior Associate Zixuan Jiao (Stuart Ph.D. MSC ’22), Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
- View profile: Associate Professor of Finance Ricky “Rick” Cooper
Elizabeth J. Durango-Cohen
“Characterizing the Determinants of Alumni Giving in Heterogeneous Populations: A Mixture Regression Model,” accepted for publication in Philanthropy & Education, forthcoming.
“Analysis of Factors Influencing Recurring Donations in a University Setting: A Compound Poisson Mixture Regression Mode” published in the Journal of Business Research, November 2022.
- View profile: M. Zia Hassan Endowed Professor and Associate Professor of Operations Management Elizabeth J. Durango-Cohen
Joanne E. Howard
Editor of Handbook of Research on Transforming Government, Nonprofits, and Healthcare in a Post-Pandemic Era published by IGI Global, 2022. The roster of more than three dozen contributors to the volume includes Associate Dean and Professor of Public Administration Roland Calia, Assistant Dean and Industry Assistant Professor of Business Administration Helen Ezenwa, and seven alumni of the Stuart Master of Public Administration program. Read more in Illinois Tech news.
View profile: Industry Associate Professor of Public Administration Joanne E. Howard
Smriti Anand
“Marriage Equality for Everyone? The Business Case for Same Sex Marriage Legislation” published in the Journal of Business Research, September 2022. Co-authors include: Assistant Professor Jianrong Wang (Stuart Ph.D. MSC ’20), East China Normal University; Stuart Ph.D. student Hui Li; and Associate Professor of Finance Wei Du (Stuart M.S. Finance ’10), West Chester University.
“You Can Stay Home, but We Can’t: Invisible ‘Dirty’ Work as Calling Amid COVID-19 Pandemic” published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, February 2022. The paper has been selected by the World Health Organization for inclusion in the WHO COVID-19 Research Database. Read more in “Called to Work” in the Illinois Tech Research Magazine.
- View profile: Professor of Management Smriti Anand
Haizhi Wang
“Social Capital and Regional Innovation: Evidence from Private Firms in the U.S.” published in Regional Studies, February 2022. Bo Wang (Stuart Ph.D. MSC ’21), Assistant Professor in Finance at Kean University, is a co-author.
“The Role of Social Capital in Private Placement: Evidence from Rule 144A Debt Issuances” published in Managerial Finance, February 2022. Jianrong Wang (Stuart Ph.D. MSC ’20), Assistant Professor at East China Normal University, is a co-author.
- View profile: Professor of Finance Haizhi Wang
Michael J. Fagel
Co-editor of Principles of Emergency Management and Emergency Operations Centers (EOC), 2nd edition, published in both print and digital formats by CRC Press in September 2021 (copyright year 2022). Co-editors are Rick C. Mathews and J. Howard Murphy. Read more in Illinois Tech news. In August 2022, ASIS International, the world’s largest association for security management professionals, selected this book as its 2022 ASIS Security Industry Book of the Year.
- View Profile: Adjunct Faculty Michael J. Fagel
Areas of Faculty Research Focus
Current areas of faculty research focus at Stuart include, but are not limited to:
- Behavioral economics
- Circular economy
- Consumer engagement
- Corporate social responsibility
- Digital media
- Diversity in the workplace
- Effects of non-compete agreements
- Ethics in automated financial markets
- Experimental economics
- Hedging and risk management
- High-frequency finance
- Labor economics and labor market outcomes
- Leader-member exchange (LMX) in management
- Marketing communications
- Product placement
- Sustainable enterprise
For more details on Stuart faculty research interests, see the individual faculty profiles.