Hello Colleagues,

There are many problems that business researchers can help solve, from improving the global supply chain to creating clean energy and livable cities. At the University of Connecticut School of Business, we are committed to cutting-edge research that has the potential to impact our world in new and exciting ways.

As an example, my colleague, management Professor John Mathieu, is working with NASA to find new ways to build robust, international teams of astronauts with the resilience needed to work together, under stressful circumstances, during space travel spanning an extended period of time.

Professor Bob Day, the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Business Programs and the President of the INFORMS Section on Auctions and Market Design, has designed auction algorithms that shape everything from the way we deliver cellular service to millions of customers to pricing the billions of advertising dollars that change hands (pennies at a time) when we click a sponsored search link. That’s powerful and impactful research indeed.

Blockchain is another of the technologies that has the potential to revolutionize business. This past summer, more than two dozen researchers from around the world gathered at the University of Connecticut’s Stamford campus to discuss one of the hottest topics in business: How will powerful and quickly emerging blockchain technology revolutionize businesses, both within organizations and between them?

This is the first academic conference on blockchain, and we are proud to be a leader on this research front. The conference, co-chaired by UConn Management professors Tim Folta and David Noble, drew top scholars and Ph.D. students from Stanford, Princeton, Virginia Tech as well as from 10 nations, including England, Israel, Switzerland, China and Norway, and attracted international media attention. The conference provided a tremendous opportunity to facilitate impactful research collaboration on blockchain technology. Stay tuned for exciting research results on this front!

Today, I’m happy to share with you the Fall 2018 issue of the UConn School of Business Research Newsletter. Here you can read about a diverse mix of business discoveries, including how companies can be impacted when members of their Board members are overcommitted; what you should know about your virtual teammates before launching a joint project; and how the overlap in social media connections can be used to maximize marketing efforts. We hope you enjoy our findings.

With best wishes,

Sulin Ba
Associate Dean of Research, UConn School of Business