Three Isenberg Ph.D. Students Honored with Eugene M. Isenberg Awards

Three Ph.D. candidates at Isenberg are among ten recently named UMass Amherst recipients of the 2014 2014 Eugene M. Isenberg Awards.  Established in 1995 by Eugene '50 and Ronnie Isenberg, the annual scholarships of up to $10,000 per awardee recognize outstanding graduate students who are committed to the integration of science, engineering, and management. The three Isenberg Ph.D. students-Sara Saberi (Operations & Information Management), Ryan Guggenmos (Accounting), and Xiaohui Yang (Finance) have joined an elite group of 135 Isenberg Scholars who over the past 19 years have excelled as managers, entrepreneurs, academics, and technologists.

For her research, Sara Saberi is developing network economic models for ChoiceNet, a new internet architecture that will empower users/consumers in their selection of best-case providers and services. Through ChoiceNet, Saberi and her team aim to financially incentivize internet superior providers. And they are designing ChoiceNet to allow both users and providers to measure and exchange information about internet performance. ChoiceNet is an NSF-funded project with UMass Amherst and three other universities. For her research, Saberi, who earned a Ph.D. degree in industrial engineering from the University of Putra Malaysia in 2010, is working with her faculty advisor, Anna Nagurney, and UMass engineering professor Tilman Wolf.

Focusing on the role of judgment and decision making in accounting, Ryan Guggenmos, a former senior auditor with Deloitte, observes that the integration of technology and business is transforming the accounting profession's landscape. In a project with accounting professor Bradley Bennett, Guggenmos is investigating how investors react differently to performance estimates delivered via social versus traditional news media. In addition, Guggenmos and his faculty advisor, Chris Agoglia, are completing a research instrument for a study that will investigate how the social exclusion of auditors by clients influences professional skepticism.

Combining her current research in finance and her background in computer science (M.S., George Mason University), Xiaohui Yang is deploying network analysis and statistical modeling to explore how financial market risks spread across financial institutions and how their relationships change with exposure to the risk of contagion. There is a growing concern, she observes, that the interactive relationships among hedge funds, investment banks, and investors have a sizable impact on the financial system's stability. Yang, whose faculty advisor is Mila Getmansky Sherman, is confident that her nontraditional investigative approach will yield new insights into the financial system and its players. Steven W. Floyd, Eugene M. Isenberg Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, represented the Isenberg School of Management on the Isenberg Awards multidisciplinary selection committee.