I am pleased to announce the finalists for the 2025 INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition. There were over 100 submissions, with many innovative and high-quality proposals submitted. Before revealing the eight finalists, I would like to take a moment to sincerely thank the many scholars who generously volunteered their time to provide reviews of the candidate proposals. This competition would be nothing without them, and I am grateful to them for their willingness to provide thoughtful and timely feedback.
The eight individuals below will present their dissertation proposals to a distinguished panel of judges who will select the winner and runner-up for this year's competition. If you know any of the finalists, please offer them your congratulations on a significant accomplishment.
The finalists are (in alphabetical order of their last name):
Clem Aeppli (Harvard University)
Workplace segregation and the structure of American racial earnings inequality
Wajeeha Ahmad (Stanford University)
Navigating Strategic and Societal Goals in the Governance of Artificial Intelligence
Meenal Banga (University of Texas at Austin)
Creating a Road to Space: Counterfactual Imagination and the Creation of Futures in the Space Economy
Ilana Brody (University of California, Los Angeles)
The Descriptive-Prescriptive Paradox of Prioritizing Autonomy to Address Inequity
Laura Lam (University of Toronto)
When 'Who's In Charge' Is Ambiguous: Navigating Control, Voice, And Relationships In Relational Gig Work
Jessica Reif (Duke University)
The future of collaboration in knowledge-intensive organizations
Hongyuan Xia (Cornell University)
How Does Industry Shape Academic Science? Evidence from "Million Dollar Plants"
Victoria Zhang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Customers as a Constraint: How and when space constrains minority entrepreneurial success in U.S. street-level marketplaces
Congratulations all!
Sincerely,
Michael Park
INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Competition Chair, 2025
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Michael Park
Assistant Professor
INSEAD
Fontainebleau
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