Faculty Impact Articles

Rajshree Agarwal, Smith’s Rudolph Lamone Chair in Strategy and Entrepreneurship, earned the 2025 STR Outstanding Educator Award for mentoring PhD students and leading research-driven programs for high schoolers, undergraduates, and executive MBAs at the Snider Center.

Smith’s Roland Rust has been named a 2025 ISSIP Fellow for pioneering contributions to service research, including founding key conferences and journals, and advancing AI scholarship in the field. He ranks among the world’s top 100 business research scientists.

Lemma Senbet, Dean’s Chaired Professor of Finance at Smith, received the African Economic Research Consortium’s Distinguished Service Award for his longstanding contributions to economic research, policy, and capacity building across Africa. He was also recently appointed to the Bretton Woods Committee.

Smith School faculty and graduate students partnered with the Maryland Comptroller’s Office to analyze the economic impact of federal spending and employment, helping state leaders assess risks and build a more resilient future for Maryland’s economy.

RouteSmart Technologies, founded by Smith School professors Bruce Golden, Michael Ball, Larry Bodin, and Arjang Assad, was acquired by FedEx. The route optimization company, built on academic research, will continue operating independently under FedEx Dataworks with plans for global expansion.

The Smith School has awarded 2025 Smith Internal Research Grants to 20 faculty-led teams to support high-impact research in areas including AI, entrepreneurship, labor markets, corporate communication, and online learning, fostering innovation across disciplines.

Smith School professors earned AI research seed grants from UMD’s AIM Institute. Louiqa Raschid and Eaman Jahani will use AI for public health; Lauren Rhue will explore legal limits of AI-generated content. AIM awarded 22 grants across interdisciplinary categories.

The fourth annual Workshop on AI & Analytics for Social Good gathered nearly 100 experts to explore AI’s societal impact, featuring 17 speakers and topics like wildfire containment, algorithmic fairness, empathy in data labeling, and AI-driven text analysis.

Rebecca Ratner, dean’s professor of marketing, is serving as president of the Association for Consumer Research, leading efforts to expand member engagement, professionalize operations and amplify research impact. She will deliver her presidential address at ACR 2025 in Washington, D.C.

Smith School associate professors Liye Ma and Bobby Zhou were named 2024 MSI Scholars by the Marketing Science Institute, recognizing their influential research. The honor fosters collaboration among mid-career marketing academics, shaping the field’s future through scholarship and real-world impact.