Our students come from a variety of backgrounds within and outside the Business industry and choose Baruch for its convenient course offerings, close-knit learning cohorts and overall value and affordability. They enhance our learning environment by drawing from their prior academic and professional experiences. Our placements include academic and non-academic institutions.
Mahtab Borzouei
Mahtab Borzouei joined the PhD Program in Fall 2024. She studied English Language and Literature for undergrad and holds a Master of International Business, both from Iran. Her research broadly focuses on upper echelons and decision making, with a particular interest in the biopharmaceutical industry. Before starting her PhD, Mahtab used to work for pharmaceutical firms on R&D-related projects with international suppliers. Her current research, inspired by her working experience, which focused on CEO temporal focus and innovation decisions was nominated for the Best PhD Paper Prize at the Strategic Management Society (SMS) Annual Conference in San Francisco (2025) where she presented it as well. In her free time, Mahtab enjoys reading books, watching movies, and learning different languages.
Chao (Mavis) Tang
Mavis Tang joined the PhD Program in Fall 2024. Their research explores activism-related topics in organizations, with particular interest in stigma and social movements. Prior to joining Baruch College, Mavis earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Texas and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Entrepreneurial Management from Texas Christian University. They have presented their work at several academic conferences, including the Southern Management Association Conference and the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference.
Tanurima Dutta
Tanurima Dutta joined the PhD Program in Fall 2022. Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, she earned her Master of Business Administration from the University of Nevada, Reno. As a shared first author, her work has been published in Frontiers in Psychology (IF- 4.232). In addition, she has presented her manuscripts for the Entrepreneurship and Social Issues in Management Division at the Academy of Management Conference (Annual Meeting 2022, 2021). Her research interests are micro foundations of entrepreneurship and strategy and CSR.
Onyeka Obasi
Anthony D. Meyers
Anthony D. Meyers joined the PhD Program in Fall 2021 and specializes in organizational behavior. His research examines organizational politics and employee voice behavior, with particular attention to how race, power, and legitimacy shape influence and evaluation processes in organizations. Bridging micro-level OB processes with organizational theory, his work explores how structural racism and racialized organizational arrangements shape access to voice, coalition-building, and leadership recognition, including within diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and performative allyship.
Anthony holds a Master of Philosophy in Business from the City University of New York, as well as a Master of Science in Organizational Change Management and a post-master’s Certificate in Leadership and Change from The New School. His research has been presented at major academic conferences, including the Academy of Management and the American Sociological Association, and has been published in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal and in edited volumes with Palgrave Macmillan and Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Nikisha Alcindor
Nikisha Alcindor joined the PhD Program in Fall 2019. She is a CUNY Graduate Center Fellow and the Provost Enhancement Fellow. She specializes in Strategic Management and her research area is in mergers and acquisitions. Nikisha is interested in examining the success rates of M&A transactions by applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to decision and risk analysis. She has an extensive background in corporate finance, healthcare and asset management. Prior to joining the PhD program, she spent time in practice at Apax Partners, Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Goldman Sachs and Columbia University. She is an Advisory Director to the PCA Retirement & Benefits, Inc. and a Board member of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. Nikisha holds a BA in Chemistry from Emory University and an MBA from Columbia Business School as a Leon Cooperman Scholar.
Xiaoqi Jiang
Xiaoqi Jiang joined the PhD Program in Fall 2025. She began her doctoral studies in 2025, and her research interests focus on empirical asset pricing, financial economics, and behavioral finance. Before joining the Ph.D. program, she completed a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance with a minor in Data Science at the University of Zurich and worked as a financial management consultant in China for one year. Outside of academia, she enjoys traveling, fishing, and baking.
Yirui Mai
Yirui Mai joined the PhD Program in Fall 2025. Her current research interests include Real Estate, Financial Markets and Institutions. She holds a Bachelor in Financial Engineering from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen).
Haining Zhou
Haining Zhou joined the PhD Program in Fall 2025. Prior to joining the program, Haining completed a Master’s degree in Financial Economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Their research interests include environmental finance, corporate finance, real estate finance, and urban economics. Particularly, how financial markets respond to environmental policies, and how firms make investment and financing decisions under different economic conditions. Haining also enjoys studying how real estate and urban development influence local economies and people’s daily lives.
Dongryong (Joe) Choi
Joe Choi joined the PhD Program in Fall 2024. He previously earned a Master’s in Statistics from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Michigan State University. Before starting his PhD, Joe gained valuable professional experience working for three and a half years at Bloomberg in their Singapore and Korea offices, where he served as a Data Analyst and a Content Acquisition Manager. He aspires to become a Research Professor. Outside of his academic and professional pursuits, he is an amateur body builder.
Preston Wong
Preston Wong joined the PhD Program in Fall 2024. His current research interests include real estate, asset pricing, climate finance, and industrial organization. He is also interested in the application of machine learning and spatial econometrics techniques to those areas. Originally from Hawaii, Preston completed his Master of Science in Financial Economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science with majors in Organismal and Population Ecology, Economics, and Medical Mathematics at Creighton University in Nebraska.
Wingshan Yip
Wingshan Yip joined the PhD Program in Fall 2023. Her research focuses on real estate finance and urban economics. She holds a Ph.D. in Urban Economics from Tsinghua University and an M.S. in Real Estate Development from Columbia University. Her research explores the intersection of cultural background and housing investment decisions. Wingshan has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Environmental Management and has contributed to academic volumes published by MIT Press.
Chang-Shu (Rory) Chung
Rory Chung joined the PhD Program in Fall 2022. His research interests are in option pricing, econometrics, and high-frequency trading. For the part on option pricing, he is developing the option pricing models based on stochastic volatility models with different types of jumps. Furthermore, he attempts to explore the economic implications of the estimated parameters. For econometrics, when estimating model parameters, he is developing a new method of estimation with a particle filtering algorithm, called “Dynamic Joint Estimation”, allowing him to estimate parameters much more accurately and thus obtain significant economic implications. Recently, he is also exploring credit risk models and high-dimensional issues in the finance and economics area. Before joining Zicklin, he was a research assistant at the National Tsing Hua University’s Institute of Statistics and Academia Sinica of Taiwan. He also worked at the derivatives department of a securities company based in Taipei and developed market-making strategies by using machine learning techniques to predict the optimal limit order submission position. Chang-Shu receives a Master of Science in Financial Engineering from the National Chengchi University and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the National Cheng Kung University.
Contact: changshu.chung@baruch.cuny.edu
Lok-Si (Richard) Ieong
Richard Ieong joined the PhD Program in Fall 2021. His research focuses on Corporate Governance, ESG, Emerging Technologies and Innovations, and Corporate Finance.
His work has been published in the Journal of Corporate Finance and presented at leading finance and accounting conferences. It has also been featured in the Financial Times and The Economist. Richard serves as an ad hoc reviewer for several major finance and accounting associations.
Beyond research, Richard has contributed to student development at Baruch College through his roles as internship coordinator and adjunct faculty, assisting students in meeting internship-credit requirements, supporting international students with CPT applications, and supporting students’ graduate school applications.
Prior to joining Baruch, Richard earned his M.A. in Economics, B.S. in Mathematics, and B.A. in Economics from National Taiwan University.
Weirui Zhou
Weirui Zhou joined the PhD Program in Fall 2025. Weirui holds a BBA in Accounting from Hong Kong Baptist University, and an MS in Economics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Weirui’s current research interests are:
- Corporate Disclosure
- Corruption & Institutional Environment
- ESG and Sustainability
- AI Applications in Accounting and Capital Markets
Jingyi Liu
Jingyi Liu joined the PhD Program in Fall 2024. Her research interests include voluntary disclosure, supply chain, and contract covenants. Her current research focuses on bilingual voluntary disclosure. Before joining the Ph.D. program, she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE).
Jiayang (Cheryl) Sun
Cheryl Sun joined the PhD Program in Fall 2024. Her current research interests include taxation, capital markets, corporate governance, and behavioral accounting. Before starting her Ph.D. in 2024, she earned a Bachelor of Economics in Taxation and a Bachelor of Management in Financial Management from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, China. She also spent six months as a fully funded exchange student in Finance at Montpellier Business School, France. She went on to complete two master’s degrees: a research-based Master of Economics in Taxation from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and a Master of Science in Public Policy with a focus on Public Finance and Taxation from University College London in the UK, where her dissertation was awarded distinction. Additionally, she is an ACCA affiliate.
Yue (Olivia) Chen
Olivia Chen joined the PhD Program in Fall 2023. Her research interest lies in voluntary disclosure, both earnings and non-earnings information, big data, and capital market. Her current research is about voluntary disclosure (conference calls) and capital market. Before joining the Ph.D. program, she was part of the accounting master program at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.
Contact: yue.chen@baruch.cuny.edu
Yutong (Vicky) Wang
Vicky Wang joined the PhD Program in Fall 2023. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has prior work experience in both the banking and tech industries. Her current research interests include voluntary disclosure, information intermediaries, and the capital markets.
Hunter NG
Hunter Ng joined the PhD Program in Fall 2022. He graduated from Nanyang Technological University with double honors degrees in Accounting and Business Analytics. He previously worked on Project Ubin, a distributed ledger clearing system by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Hunter’s current energies are focused on new technologies involving cryptocurrencies, betting markets, LLMs and their applications on accountancy, finance and economics.
Haozheng (Leon) Wang
Leon Wang joined the PhD Program in Fall 2021. His research explores corporate social responsibility decisions in the context of macroeconomic forces, including economic uncertainty, regulatory policy, and political pressure. Prior to entering the doctoral program, Leon worked as a Senior Associate at Ernst & Young, where he provided assurance and advisory services to industry-leading clients. He holds double master’s degrees in Accounting and Public Policy from The George Washington University, and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.
Yanru (Anne) Chang
Anne Chang joined the PhD Program in Fall 2020. Her research explores information disclosures and asset pricing, particularly focusing on how generative AI shapes the financial market.
Contact: yanru.chang@baruch.cuny.edu
Mengtian Sui
Mengtian Sui joined the PhD Program in Fall 2020. Her research interests revolve around corporate disclosures, machine learning, and alternative data. Before joining the Ph.D. program, Mengtian earned an MBA in Accounting from CUNY Baruch and a BFA from Parsons the New School. She also passed CPA and CFA Level III exams.
Wen Xie
Wen Xie joined the PhD Program in Fall 2020. Her research interests include disclosure and regulation. Her previous professional experience consists of several years at fast-moving consumer goods, wealth management, and equity exchange, covering financial planning and strategic analysis. She has a bachelor’s degree of management in Accounting from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and is an ACCA Affiliate. She has double master’s degrees in International Management from Fudan University and Luiss Guido Carli.
Saghar Samimy
Saghar Samimy joined the PhD Program in Fall 2018. Prior to joining the PhD program, he was a Vice President at JPMorgan Chase. His extensive professional experience covers areas including corporate accounting and taxation, structured income products, resolution and recovery, and employee compensation. His current research interests include corporate social responsibility, financial data security, labor, financial information flow through social media, and international regulation. He holds an MBA and a BBA from the City University of New York and is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant.
Ayana Boyce
Ayana Boyce joined the PhD Program in Fall 2025. Ayana obtained both an MBA in Marketing and International Business and a BS in Marketing from St. John’s University in Queens, NY. Prior to joining the PhD program, she had 5+ years of experience in industry, first working in wine distribution & logistics, then working on content operations & tourism strategy in the fashion industry. Her research interests focus on the psychological foundations of consumer behavior, particularly the roles of emotion and perceived control in decision-making. She is also interested in how family systems, cultural identity, and addiction shape consumption patterns and marketplace experiences.
Outside of academia, Ayana is a dedicated yoga practitioner and runner, and an avid wine enthusiast (she is even formally certified in wine!) She has two very adored cats who keep her company during late-night literature review.
Benyu Liu
Benyu Liu joined the PhD Program in Fall 2025. Prior to joining the PhD program, Benyu earned a Bachelor’s degree in Agribusiness Management from Michigan State University and a Master’s degree in Marketing Intelligence from Fordham University. Benyu’s research interests lie in behavioral marketing, with a particular focus on understanding consumer decision-making processes and behavioral responses in marketing contexts.
Outside of academia, Benyu enjoys photography and CD collection.
Mengtian Ju
Mengtian Ju joined the PhD Program in Fall 2024. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her Master of Science in Integrated Marketing from New York University. Her research focuses on how emerging digital technologies, particularly Augmented Reality (AR) virtual try-on, digital goods, AI-generated content, human–AI interaction shape consumer perception, decision-making and psychological experiences, how filtered versus non-filtered digital self-presentations influence self-continuity, and how consumers interpret AI- versus human-generated reviews.
Outside of research, Mengtian is actively involved in teaching and curriculum development. She is currently teaching Foundations of Marketing (MKT3000). She enjoys designing engaging, real-world–focused learning materials and helping students connect marketing theory with practice.
Kimia Latifi
Kimia Latifi joined the PhD Program in Spring 2024. Her research centers on consumer behavior, with a particular focus on how individuals make decisions in vulnerable contexts- such as during AI service failures, under resource scarcity, and in health-related situations. Before beginning her doctoral studies, Kimia worked as a team leader at an online advertising company, where she managed retention marketing campaign strategies and led numerous webinars on digital marketing.
Kimia is a recipient of the ACR–Sheth Foundation Doctoral Student Conference Award (2025) and has presented her research poster at the 2025 Association for Consumer Research Conference in Washington, D.C.
Outside of academia, Kimia is an avid rock climber and bouldering enthusiast. She and her husband spend much of their free time seeking out new climbing routes- an activity that challenges them physically while bringing joy, balance, and connection.
Joslyn Villavicencio
Joslyn Villavicencio joined the PhD Program in Fall 2023. Her research examines how consumers psychologically respond to cuteness as a persuasion cue, as well as how consumers interact with emerging technologies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management and published her first research study in the UNH Inquiry Journal, which analyzed Baby Boomer and Generation Z preferences in video marketing. Joslyn is a proud first-generation Latina pursuing research at the intersection of consumer psychology, aesthetics, and technology.
Kristin Lindrud
Kristin Lindrud joined the PhD Program in Fall 2022. Her research examines the psychology of ownership and its influence on consumer behavior, with a particular focus on how perceived ownership (whether of algorithms, time, or wages) shapes consumer cognition and decision-making. She explores questions such as how ownership perceptions affect consumer identification, growth mindsets, and spending behaviors. Her work also extends to campaign strategy and prosocial behavior.
Before beginning her doctoral studies, Kristin earned her BS in Global Business from Fordham University and has since completed an MBA at Baruch College. She currently teaches undergraduate courses in business and marketing, where she brings her research insights into the classroom.
Melanie Paul Austin
Melanie Paul Austin joined the PhD Program in Fall 2020. Her research focuses on product efficacy and mental accounting in the context of consumer behavior. Prior to joining the PhD program, she obtained both an MBA in Marketing and a BS in Business Management from Stony Brook University.
Melanie’s work has been presented at academic conferences including the Association of Consumer Research Conference (ACR) and the Society of Consumer Psychology Conference (SCP). She is also a member of the adjunct faculty at Baruch College, teaching undergraduate courses in business fundamentals, marketing foundations, and marketing analytics.
Publication(s):
Block, L., Vallen, B., & Paul Austin, M. (2022). Food waste (mis) takes: The role of (mis) perception and (mis) estimation. Current Opinion in Psychology, 101327.
Yihong (Eric) Chen
Eric Chen joined the PhD Program in Fall 2025. His research focuses on generative artificial intelligence, human–AI interaction, and cybersecurity, with an emphasis on how GAI technologies influence human decision-making and secure behavior in digital environments. He also studies the market dynamics of GAI applications using econometric and machine learning methods.
Prior to joining the PhD program, Yihong earned dual bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Data Science, and Management Information Systems from the University of Delaware. He also completed a concurrent bachelor’s degree in Information Management and Information Systems from the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in China. He is a recipient of several research awards from the University of Delaware, including the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Award and the Industry Scholar Award. Outside of research, Yihong is a K-pop fan, and served as the principal French horn player of the SWUFE Symphony Orchestra.
Wenxuan Xue
Wenxuan Xue joined the PhD Program in Fall 2024. Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, she earned a Master’s degree in Business Analytics from The George Washington University and has an academic background in Accounting and Operations Management. Her research interests center on empirical research in Information Systems, with a particular focus on online health platforms and firm-level digital transformation, including supply chain management and cybersecurity.
Setareh Seraj
Setareh Seraj joined the PhD Program in Fall 2021. She studies the societal impact of technology, focusing on how digital transformation shapes human behavior and economic outcomes. Her current work employs diverse empirical methodologies—including econometric analyses, field, and natural experiments—to quantify how individuals adapt to stress and labor-market dynamics in digital environments. Her broader research agenda extends to AI-powered digital integration, entrepreneurship, job transformation, and cybersecurity. Setareh holds an M.B.A. and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic) in Tehran, Iran.
Fan Feng
Fan Feng joined the PhD Program in Fall 2021. She specializes in Strategic Management, with current research spanning two primary areas: (1) cybersecurity at both the consumer and firm levels, and (2) sharing economy platforms. She also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Baruch College, where she teaches undergraduate courses in Introduction to Information Systems and Technologies, Programming and Computational Thinking, and Business Fundamentals.
In addition to her academic experience, she brings professional expertise from the healthcare industry, where she analyzed large-scale business datasets and produced data-driven reports to support strategic decision-making.
Yuqian Liu
Yuqian Liu joined the PhD Program in Fall 2019. She holds an M.S. in Quantitative Methods and Modeling, also from Baruch College. Her research examines digital entrepreneurship in live streaming, with a focus on streamers’ communication strategies, generative AI–enabled content creation, and visual design choices that shape audience engagement and monetization outcomes. She employs large-scale video and chat data, large language models, natural language processing, deep learning, and econometric methods to study how digital entrepreneurs design, market, and sustain their ventures on emerging platforms.
Sanghyun Park
Sanghyun Park joined the PhD Program in Fall 2019. His research interests include User-Generated Content (UGC), machine learning, sharing economy, and crowdfunding. He received his MS in Big Data Management from Kyung-Hee University. Prior to joining the PhD program, he worked in a national research institute in Korea.
Egemen Elver
Egemen Elver joined the PhD Program in Fall 2024. His research interest lies in revenue management, contract design, and digital platforms. Egemen holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University in Turkey. He also has another master’s degree in Statistics, Analytics and Data Science from UNC Chapel Hill. His publication, “Finding Robustly Fair Solutions in Resource Allocation” appeared in Omega. He teaches undergraduate courses in predictive analytics and decision modeling.
Ceren Gultekin
Ceren Gultekin joined the PhD Program in Fall 2021. Her research program focuses on how consumer behavior impacts operational decision-making in retail. In her dissertation, she investigates whether widely used retail strategies to stimulate demand remain effective in the presence of returns. Her most recent project focuses on selective inventory disclosure, which retailers use to mitigate consumers’ discount-seeking behavior. She finds permanent disclosure may outperform selective disclosure when product returns are considered.
Ceren holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering from Ozyegin University in Turkey. Her publication, “A Variable Neighborhood Search-Based Matheuristic for a Waste Cooking Oil Collection Network Design Problem,” appeared in the European Journal of Operational Research. She teaches service operations management at Zicklin.
Omer Berk Olmez
Omer Berk Olmez joined the PhD Program in Fall 2021. His research expertise is in service operations management, particularly multi-channel service operations where the same provider can offer both in-person and virtual services.
Omer’s current research portfolio includes three interconnected projects: (1) analyzing the implications of pooling servers across physical and virtual channels, (2) studying customer preferences between in-person and virtual service delivery, and (3) investigating the impact of payment parity policies on telehealth adoption and broader healthcare utilization patterns.
Omer earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering from Ozyegin University in Turkey. During this time, he published an article in the European Journal of Operational Research titled “A Variable Neighborhood Search Based Matheuristic for a Waste Cooking Oil Collection Network Design Problem”. He received the Mills Tannenbaum Research Excellence Award in 2023. Beyond his research, Omer teaches an undergraduate course in prediction analysis and decision modeling.
Yi Zhuang
Yi Zhuang joined the PhD Program in Fall 2021. Her research interest lies in Matching Theory and Revenue Management. She investigates two-sided matching and search market with search friction for heterogeneous agents and Network Revenue Management problem under general discrete customer choice model. Her methodological approach combines both optimization theory and modeling to investigate the dynamic choice exhibits in agents’ behavior.
Yi holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Economics from University of Notre Dame and a Master of Science in Financial Mathematics from North Carolina State University. She teaches undergraduate courses in Predictive and Decision Analytics.