Three papers from two faculty members in the Naveen Jindal School of Management were finalists in three INFORMS Best Paper Competitions at the 2022 INFORMS Annual Meeting, held Oct. 16-19, 2022, in Indianapolis, Indiana:

Dr. Guihua Wang, an assistant professor in the Operations Management Area, was a finalist in two best-paper competitions. His paper titled “An Instrument Variable Forest Approach for Detecting Heterogeneous Treatment Effects in Observational Studies” was named a finalist in the Pierskalla Best Paper Award. His paper titled “Does Transportation Mean Transplantation? Impact of New Airline Routes on Sharing of Cadaveric Kidneys” was named a finalist in the Manufacturing & Service Operations Management (M&SOM) Service Management Special Interest Group Best Paper Award competition.

Dr. Anyan Qi, an assistant professor in the Operations Management area, was named a finalist in the Public Sector Operations Best Paper Award competition for a paper titled “Combating Excessive Overtime in Global Supply Chains.”

The MS Healthcare Leadership and Management Program completed its self-study year and has applied for candidacy and accreditation with the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME). Dr. Keith Thurgood, a professor of practice in the Organizations, Strategy and International Management Area at the Jindal School and program director, said that if the program becomes fully accredited, UT Dallas will be one of 9 CAHME accredited programs in Texas.

The Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will host the 2023 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) annual conference on October 5-7.

“More than 250 university-based entrepreneurship centers will gather at UTD to work together to advance and strengthen the role of universities in teaching, mentoring, and supporting tomorrow’s innovators and entrepreneurs,” said Dr. Emily Choi, an associate professor of instruction in the Organizations, Strategy and International Management Area at the Jindal School and academic director of the institute.

More than 80 deans, associate deans and assistant deans representing 75 public and private universities attended the third annual Undergraduate Deans Conference, held March 7 and 8. Dr. Monica Powell, the Jindal School’s senior associate dean and graduate dean, gave the keynote presentation. She spoke about the transformation that is coming in the way people work and the impact those changes will have on business education, describing it as a “critically important topic.”

Gaurav Shekhar, director of the MS Business Analytics Flex and Online Programs at the Jindal School, organized a training and certification program with Alteryx Inc. between October and December 2022. It saw engagement from more than 1,000 students, out of which more than 500 received certifications in the Alteryx Analytics Automation Platform. Some received Alteryx Foundation Micro-Credentials, which demonstrate proficiency in basic analytics. Others earned the Alteryx Designer Core certification, which qualified them to become Alteryx Designer Core Developers. Some earned both certifications. The certification program was followed by a two-day Datathon Feb. 10-11 and an Alteryx Career Fair Feb. 24.

Shekhar also heads up the Tech CXO Excellence Program. He said a new corporate certificate through the Tech CXO Excellence Program of Tech CXO LaunchPad was launched in April.

“It is a comprehensive program designed to build the next generation of C-Level technology executives, through a partnership between UTD and Tech CXO Launchpad. It brings seasoned and tenured information technology executives to the school,” Shekhar said. “The 96-hour program equips our students to be technology leaders.”

The MS Supply Chain Management Program at the Jindal School hosted a Supply Chain Directors Conference March 7-8 for SCM program directors across the U.S.

“This was the first time the conference happened in person since 2019,” said John Fierst, program director. “We have also had a couple of MS SCM students present research or get a paper accepted to a conference.” The program also now automatically matches all new students with peer mentors during their first semester, which Fierst said has been great for the student experience.

The BS Supply Chain Management Program at the Jindal School presented the Out of the Box Supply Chain Undergraduate Competition 2023. The finals were held on April 13. Dr. Monica Brussolo, an associate professor of instruction in the Operations Management Area at the Jindal School and program director, said undergraduate students were tasked with solving a sustainable supply chain case. Faculty members and industry professionals served as judges.

Brussolo said the top two sophomore female students were awarded a trip to a leadership on-site event at ULTA, an American chain of beauty stores. The event was held April 2-3 in the ULTA corporate offices and organized by WISE (Women Impacting Supply Chain Excellence).

Brussolo also said the program is launching two new sustainability courses in the fall 2023 semester: OPRE 3370 Managing Sustainable Operations and OPRE 4V91 Social Impact and Sustainable Community Engagement. The courses are offered in coordination with global profit organizations.