Jindal School Now – January 2024

Study Measures Impact of Pausing Organ Transplants in Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted organ transplants in unprecedented ways. Many transplant centers considered slowing down and even pausing all transplants, mostly due to the potential risk of COVID-19 to organ donors, transplant recipients and care providers In a study published in the May 2023 special issue of Production and Operations Management on managing pandemics, two Jindal School operations management researchers analyzed the impact of pausing transplants on patient outcomes. Their findings could help decision-makers determine whether and how to pause organ transplants during a pandemic. Management Science doctoral student Minmin Zhang and Dr. Guihua Wang, assistant professor of operations management, developed a model for evaluating the impact of pausing liver transplants. The model accounts for two potential risks: COVID-19 infection in the case of no pause and health deterioration in the case of a pause. “We found that while pausing organ transplants reduced the risk of infections and saved scarce health care resources for COVID-19 patients, patients on the waiting list became sicker while waiting for organ transplants,” Wang said. “Policymakers, care providers and patients must balance the trade-off between the risks of infection and health deterioration.” Dive into more details about this research on Inside Jindal.

Jindal School Researcher Proposes Approach for Optimizing Data Acquisition

A paper authored by a Jindal School researcher discusses a solution for allowing businesses that buy data to determine the specific information they need. Published in the July 2023 issue of Management Science, one of the academic journals tracked in The UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings™, the paper — “Cost-Restricted Feature Selection for Data Acquisition” — was authored by Dr. Sumit Sarkar, the Charles and Nancy Davidson Chair, a professor in the Information Systems Area and director of PhD Programs at the Jindal School. Customer data is an important tool for businesses and organizations that use it in analytics aimed at advancing operations, acquiring managerial insights and developing business strategies. New customer data is often used to initiate marketing campaigns to increase their customer base. The cost of the data owned by an organization is typically minimal when it is generated as a part of the company’s ongoing operations. When it needs to acquire additional data for things such as promoting new products or expanding its customer base, the price of the additional data can be high. “Data vendors have started pricing data at very fine granularities, often charging different amounts for each attribute of a record. There is a lot of data to consider and much of it will not be of value for a company,” Sarkar said. “Companies work within a budget and it is important that they be able to identify a set of the most useful and valuable attributes or features to acquire while keeping within their budget.” Companies that accurately identify the specific information they need can save money while obtaining the relevant data by purchasing only what is necessary. Get the complete picture of Sarkar’s research study by visiting Inside Jindal.

Jindal School Assistant Professor Receives Best Dissertation Award

Dr. Hyesook Chung, an assistant professor in the Organizations, Strategy and International Management Area in the Jindal School, has received the Ralph Alexander Best Dissertation Award from the Academy of Management’s Human Resources (HR) Division. “This award is for the top doctoral dissertation completed in HRM (Human Resource Management) in the last two years,” said Jill Ellingson, HR Division Chair, Academy of Management, and the Neeli Bendapudi Professor of Management at the University of Kansas School of Business. This is a very competitive award that truly acknowledges research excellence, she added. “In the context of the food service industry, my research explores how the utilization of variable work schedules (VWS), increasingly employed by managers to maximize profits in unpredictable market conditions, impacts employee turnover and, consequently, business performance,” Chung said. “The study sheds light on the concealed costs associated with the use of variable work schedules. Specifically, it reveals that managers who rely on less stable work schedules experience higher turnover rates due to their adverse effects on workers’ economic security, health and work-life balance.” Learn more about Chung’s award on Inside Jindal.

Economists Find Tax Amnesties Helpful for Increasing Revenue for Governments

Governments often use amnesties to raise tax revenue by granting debtors partial forgiveness of what is owed in exchange for immediate payments or disclosing hidden assets. In a new analysis, a Jindal School researcher and his colleagues found that beliefs about enforcement of taxes owed are a barrier to repayment, particularly for larger companies, and that amnesties – allowing debtors to make amends for past misdeeds in exchange for partial debt forgiveness – can be an important tool to generate greater tax revenues. Study author Dr. Alejandro Zentner, associate professor of finance and managerial economics, said amnesties have existed since ancient times. “Not many people know that the central conciliatory message inscribed on the Rosetta Stone, an artifact that was key in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, actually contains the roots of a popular instrument used by tax authorities today: tax amnesties,” said Zentner, adding that state governments in the U.S. have implemented tax amnesties 46 times since 2010. Continue exploring this topic on The Telescope.

Jindal School Students Win Multiple Awards

Students from the Naveen Jindal School of Management have performed well in multiple competitions and garnered awards in recent months:

• Minmin Zhang, a fourth-year management science PhD student at the Naveen Jindal School of Management, took first place recently in the INFORMS Health Applications Society (HAS) Student Paper Competition (read more on Inside Jindal ).
• Jayashree Balakumar, an MS in Supply Chain Management student, won first prize in the 2023 American National Standards Institute (ANSI) student paper competition. She said her entry, “Waste Disposition Management: An Enabler to Achieve the United Nations’ SDG #3 Within the Pharmaceutical Industry,” was a real passion for her (read more on Inside Jindal ).
• The Chi Psi Chapter of the coed professional business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi has received three awards from the national organization. The chapter, which was established at the Jindal School in 2018, received the Chapter of Excellence Award and the Outstanding Alumni Relations Award for a College Chapter, presented to the collegiate chapter that most thoroughly integrates an aspect of alumni relations into overall operations (read more on Inside Jindal ).
• Reza Roshangarzadeh, a Ph.D. candidate in the Jindal School’s Management Science — Marketing program, was named an honorable mention in the 2023 MSI (Marketing Science Institute) Alden G. Clayton Doctoral Dissertation Proposal Competition. Read more about this recognition on Inside Jindal.

UTD INFORMS Chapter Gains National Recognition

The UT Dallas student chapter of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, the largest professional and academic association for decision and data sciences, recently won a national award, the 2023 INFORMS Student Chapter Annual Award, Summa Cum Laude. “The award we won is through the sheer hard work of our team, because it’s a true team effort,” said Nikhita Agarwal, the current UTD club president who will receive both her MBA and master’s in marketing from the Jindal School this spring. “I’m really excited and thrilled. The core committee we had was really strong.” Read more about this recognition on Inside Jindal.

Scholarship-Winning Jindal School Student Prepares for Career in Big-Four Firm

Sidrah Syeda, a third-year Naveen Jindal School of Management accounting senior, has received a $5,000 scholarship for minority accounting students from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). She begins an internship with Big-Four accounting firm KPMG in January. “UT Dallas is different than other universities,” she said. “The professors work closely with students to prepare them for exams, help them get internships, and pair them with mentors. They made me feel that I could stretch outside my comfort zone. I owe so much to the PPA (Professional Program in Accounting) program at JSOM.” Mary Beth Goodrich, a professor in the Accounting Area at the Jindal School, described Syeda as “an exceptional student” in two of her courses. “She is extremely hardworking and dedicated and has shown herself to consistently go above and beyond in her studies, asking additional questions and seeking resources to deepen her understanding of the courses,” Goodrich said. Read more about this student and her accomplishments on Inside Jindal.