News

Despite few upsets, the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments remain compelling, with millions tracking brackets. One perfect bracket remains. Smith professors Henry C. Boyd III and Daniel McCarthy discuss AI, marketing trends, NIL and fan behavior.

A student-built AI chatbot to combat food insecurity won a UMD competition and national attention. Developed for Capital Area Food Bank, it helps users find nearby resources 24/7 in multiple languages and will be implemented by its creators as interns.

Amid a growing loneliness epidemic, Smith professor Rebecca Ratner says individuals can build connections by engaging in activities alone and initiating interactions. Her research highlights the role of marketers in fostering community, deeper conversations and meaningful social connections.

AI-powered “vibe coding” is reshaping business education, enabling app development through natural language prompts. At the University of Maryland’s Smith School, marketing professor Wendy Moe taught MBA students to use AI tools to build near-launch-ready applications in fall 2025.

P.K. Kannan, dean’s chair in marketing science at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, will be inducted into the 2026 American Marketing Association Fellows cohort, honoring his influential research, teaching and service at conference in Madrid.

The inaugural IBM Day at UMD’s Smith School of Business featured class takeovers, coffee chats, and networking. Alumni shared insights on AI, consulting, and martech careers. IBM highlighted SkillsBuild and partnerships, connecting coursework with real-world business and technology applications.

Twenty-one Smith School professors were named among the top 2% most cited researchers globally, according to Elsevier’s 2025 study across 22 fields. Representing both current and emeritus faculty, their impactful research advances business knowledge and global academic excellence.

Led by President Rebecca Ratner, the Association for Consumer Research held its 2025 conference in Washington, D.C., exploring “Buying and Beyond.” Ratner emphasized social connection in her address, highlighting research on loneliness, consumer behavior, and marketing’s role in fostering connection.

P. K. Kannan, associate dean and marketing professor at the Smith School, was named a Fellow of the INFORMS Society for Marketing Science, honoring his decades of influential research, mentorship, and service in digital marketing, analytics, and marketing science.

Smith professor Jie Zhang and PhD alum Min Kim won the AMA’s 2025 Don Lehmann Award for their Journal of Marketing Research article on predicting online shopping preferences in dynamic, large-scale retail assortments.