World Class Faculty & Research / June 25, 2025

ISSIP Honors Smith’s Roland Rust for ‘Advancing Service Innovation'

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.

Roland RustThe International Society for Service Innovation Professionals (ISSIP) has named  Smith’s  Roland Rust as a 2025 ISSIP Fellow for “his significant leadership role in establishing the ‘big tent’ field of service.”

Rust a Distinguished University Professor and David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, has further distinguished his career “by establishing the premiere Frontiers in Service Research conference and “Sage Journal of Service Research,” and ongoing scholarship advancing understanding of artificial intelligence in the service research field,” according to ISSIP, the global community of 600-plus organizations dedicated to “advancing service innovation to benefit people business and society.”

Related ISSIP video: Roland Rust discusses his journey in service research, including founding key initiatives that shaped the field and brought together diverse disciplines.

Rust’s book “The Feeling Economy: How AI is Creating the Era of Empathy,” exemplifies the ‘big tent’ concept of integrating research fields from social science to technology and engineering. The work, co-authored with Ming-Hui Huang of National Taiwan University and a Smith School Distinguished Faculty Fellow, explores the intersection of technology and AI in service systems, emphasizing the importance of adapting to AI's impact on the job market and personal development.

Relatedly, a recent research.com study named him one of the top 100 “Best Scientists in Business and Management,” worldwide across all business disciplines, based on research impact.

Rust also is founder and Executive Director of Smith’s Center for Excellence in Service and vice president of publications for the American Marketing Association, overseeing policy and editor selections for AMA’s five journals.

His lifetime achievement honors include the AMA Irwin/McGraw-Hill Distinguished Marketing Educator Award, the EMAC Distinguished Marketing Scholar Award, Fellow of the INFORMS Society for Marketing Science, the Paul D. Converse Award, Fellow of the American Statistical Association, as well as the top career honors in service marketing, marketing research, marketing strategy, and advertising, and honorary doctorates in economics from the University of Neuchatel (Switzerland) and the Norwegian School of Economics.

He was one of the inaugural honorees in the American Marketing Association’s Marketing Legends, and one of the inaugural AMA Fellows. Awards for his publications include four best article awards from the Journal of Marketing, as well as the Berry/AMA Book Award for the best book in marketing.

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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.