Seminar Series
The Department of Business Analytics and Technology Management encourages scholarship through a research seminar series that features faculty presentations of recent work to faculty and students within the department and College of Business and Economics.
To learn about future seminars, contact the department office.
Past Seminars
Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management Research: A Bibliometric Study
on Central Themes and Trends
Nov. 4, 2016
3 p.m., Stephens Hall, Room 310
Presented by Tobin Porterfield
Humanitarian logistics and supply chain management research is a relatively new area, with much of the published journal articles having been generated in the past fifteen years. The area of research has been evolving, motivated by major natural disasters and increased pressure from donors to improve the efficiency of humanitarian operations. In order to organize and understand the existing literature, a bibliometric analysis is conducted applying quantitative tools for the analysis of trends, citations, and co-citations. Preliminary results suggest an increasing volume but a concentration of journals and a fragmentation of contributing authors. Co-citation relationships are being evaluated using a dense network subgrouping algorithm which results in clusters or communities of interest around topics within the area.
Information Cues and Online Product Sales Performance
April 1, 2016
Presented by Xiaolin Li
This study empirically explores the impact of different information cues on sales performance of online products. The analysis of a big dataset about the reviews and sales of products on Amazon.com reveals diverse effects of different information cues on the sales performance of products. The findings have significant implications for both business practice and research.
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy Quadrennial Technology Review 2015
October 2, 2015
Presented by Rana Rassipour
Fossil-fuel resources account for 82% of total U.S. primary energy use because they are abundant, have a relatively low cost of production, and have a high energy density—enabling easy transport and storage. The infrastructure built over decades to supply fossil fuels is the world’s largest enterprise with the largest market capitalization. Of fossil fuels, oil and natural gas make up 63% of energy usage. Across the energy economy, the source and mix of fuels used across these sectors is changing, particularly the rapid increase in natural gas production from unconventional resources for electricity generation and the rapid increase in domestic production of shale oil.
While oil and gas fuels are essential for the United States’ and the global economy, they also pose economic, security and environmental challenges. Oil and gas have advantages and disadvantages with respect to these challenges. Since these needs are vital to the national interest, it is essential to demonstrate improvement across all three dimensions and maintain a robust set of options for rapidly changing conditions.
The primary research needs for the oil and gas are related to resource extraction. Current technology is reviewed, and key research and development (R&D) opportunities are identified that could help resolve sector challenges with specific technology assessments in these major areas: unconventional oil and gas, Co2- enhanced oil recovery (EOR), offshore oil spill prevention, gas hydrates and transportation infrastructure.
Coordination in Humanitarian Supply Chain Management
April 10, 2015
Presented by Chaodong Han
Grounded in systems thinking and coordination theory, this study intends to build a typological framework of coordination in humanitarian supply chain management, disaster relief operations in particular. Following established case study methodologies, we collect archival data on five relief operations: 2010 Haiti Earthquake, 2010 Chile Earthquake, 2008 China Earthquake, 2005 U.S. Katrina and 2004 South Asia Tsunami and conduct a comparative case study. Through identifying coordination problems and assessing coordination mechanisms used accordingly, we build a typological coordination framework for disaster relief operations.
Does donation facilitate electricity saving?
November 7, 2014
Presented by Hiroko Okajima
Smart meters present new opportunities that have not been possible with traditional meters. They can facilitate improving energy efficiency by providing near real-time usage information. Motivated by the growing interest in electricity-saving programs using smart meters, we conduct laboratory experiments to explore how people react to individual and group monetary/nonmonetary incentives to save electricity. Specifically, we examine the effects of donation on electricity saving.
Assessing and Standardizing Military Unit Readiness
April 4, 2014
Presented by Natalie Scala
One of the most difficult measurements to obtain with some level of accuracy is military readiness to provide defense. The U.S. military has a requirement for units to report an overall readiness rating based on a multitude of factors. This research examines the current readiness reporting method and proposes a new benchmarking system based on desirability functions from quality theory, assessing readiness on quantitative and qualitative scales with aggregation so that a holistic approach is taken.
Modeling Agent Auctions in the Two Dimensions of Price and Quantity
November 1, 2013
Presented by Barin Nag
In agent-based multi-period auction trading, inventory costs and trading penalties affect two dimensional decisions of price and quantity to trade or carry over. Cooperation and collaboration between buyer agents and seller agents respectively facilitate trades. Heuristic algorithms implementing a mathematical model demonstrate the effectiveness in a simulation experiment.