This month I celebrate five years as dean at the Smith School, which has me reflecting on what we’ve accomplished here in that time. Over the past five years, we have launched nearly 60 initiatives spanning research, teaching, service, infrastructure, fundraising, alumni engagement, staff development, and community impact. We introduced 15 new programs, multiple graduate program innovations, expanded our business offerings across campus and saw a 200% increase in our online business minor. In fall 2025, we welcomed the largest freshman class in the school’s history, with 40% growth over two years. We’ve had huge fundraising success, scholarship support has expanded dramatically, and we have recruited amazing scholars and professional track faculty and staff. Our research faculty are truly outstanding, with 21 Smith scholars ranked among the top 2% globally. Many are leaders in their fields, heading top scholarly organizations and recognized for their work. P.K. Kannan is the latest to be recognized as a member of the 2026 American Marketing Association (AMA) fellows cohort for his significant research contributions and service.
We continue to serve the state of Maryland, with our faculty and students working closely with the Office of the Comptroller and other entities in the state. Our programs also serve the community—for example, the Center for AI in Business-sponsored competition to combat food insecurity led to a student team developing an AI chatbot for the Capital Area Food Bank, recently featured on CBS News. And our quantitative finance MS students have developed new tools for the banking and mortgage industry to help assess the risks from natural hazards, like floods and wildfires.
We continue to prepare our students to lead in the future by focusing on AI technology, offering more hands-on learning opportunities than ever, and hosting events that showcase leaders and encourage powerful conversations and debate.
These past five years have been truly rewarding and exceptional, and I’m excited to see where the Smith School goes from here.
Prabhudev C. Konana
Dean, Robert H. Smith School of Business
1. 21 FACULTY AMONG TOP 2% SCHOLARS WORLDWIDE
An impressive 21 Smith professors and emeritus faculty are among the top 2% of the most-cited scholars and scientists, according to an Elsevier report published in November. The report analyzed 22 scientific fields and 174 subfields, ranking researchers by how frequently their work is cited by others. It includes two separate lists—one measuring career-long impact and another reflecting single-year impact for 2024. Many of the faculty on the list are leaders in their fields, heading top scholarly organizations and often recognized with awards and honors for their work. P.K. Kannan is the latest to be recognized, named as a 2026 American Marketing Association (AMA) fellow for his significant research contributions and service. READ MORE
2. COMPTROLLER, FACULTY, STUDENTS COLLABORATE TO ANALYZE IMPACT OF FEDERAL CUTS IN MARYLAND
The Comptroller of Maryland collaborated with Smith faculty and students on an analysis of Trump Administration cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Agency for International Development on Maryland jobs, wages, grants and contracts. The project also includes an interactive dashboard to model the potential effects of additional cuts. The project is a follow-up to a June 2025 report the partners published that quantified the impact of federal spending and jobs in Maryland at $150 billion. Smith master’s of finance students and professors Liu Yang, Vojislav Maksimovic and Kislaya Prasad worked with Maryland’s Comptroller on both reports. READ MORE
3. CBS NEWS HIGHLIGHTS HOW STUDENTS USED AI TO HELP CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK
An AI-powered chatbot created by University of Maryland students is helping the Capital Area Food Bank serve users and was recently featured on CBS News. The students developed the chatbot as part of the Smith School’s AI and Food Insecurity Case Competition. The contest was the brainchild of Smith’s Senior Associate Dean for Faculty, Wedad Elmaghraby, who partnered with Center for AI in Business Director Balaji Padmanabhan and UMD College of Information professor Vanessa Frias-Martinez. READ MORE
4. MS STUDENTS DEVELOP RISK TOOLS FOR NATURAL HAZARDS, BANKS USING DATA AND GOOGLE AI
The Smith Enterprise Risk Consortium (SERC) launched two new student-created dashboard tools for analyzing natural hazard risks to mortgages and banks. Both were developed by master’s of quantitative finance students working with SERC director Clifford Rossi, professor and risk industry veteran, as part of their experiential learning projects in the program. Other students worked with Google on projects using the company’s AI tools to evaluate and predict credit risk management at banks and fintech companies. The students’ leadership and hands-on work on the SERC projects helped them stand out to employers, including one December 2025 graduate who landed a position at Goldman Sachs as a credit risk analyst on the natural resources team. READ MORE
5. ‘AI REVOLUTION’ ALUMNUS DAN IVES, MBA ’00, TALKS TECH AND STOCKS AT SMITH
Dan Ives, MBA ’00, one of the most recognizable analysts on Wall Street—known for his bold fashion as well as his take on tech stocks—returned to Van Munching Hall in November as part of the Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series. Ives, who often appears in the media and coined the phrase “AI revolution,” credits his Maryland MBA for shaping his career. Today, he is managing director and senior equity research analyst covering the technology sector at Wedbush Securities. READ MORE
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About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.