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Welcome to the PhD Pulse!
- Derek Dubois, 10/08/2025
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It was a brisk fall morning. I arrived early on campus. The quad was quiet until, approaching Ballantine, an incessant scratching. I followed it carefully through the pre-dawn shadows. The culprit: a possum wedged inside a recycling can, eyes wide, terrified.
I called maintenance. We waited. One quick tip of the bin later, and he scurried off into the light. I named him Petey. It's all on video.
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But, standing there, a thought arrived: two years prior, in my first semester after leaving a nearly two-decade business career, I was Petey. Frightened. In the dark. No obvious route up and out.
Fast-forward to today. Thanks to countless professors (especially my advisory team), generous peers, and a healthy amount of hard work, I can see more clearly: my place at this institution, my researcher identity, and how I fit in the wider academic community.
If you’re just starting out, you might feel overwhelmed, in over your head, stumbling through the dark. That’s okay. Lean into your community.
Let the rest of us be the maintenance crew that tips your garbage can when you need a nudge toward daylight.
Welcome to the inaugural issue of PhD Pulse—a newsletter for us, by us. Enjoy.
| | | | College of Business Welcomes New Fall 2025 Doctoral Cohort | |
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This fall, we welcome seven new scholars to our PhD program. This cohort is exceptionally diverse, with students hailing from six different countries. Their global perspectives and unique experiences will significantly enrich our academic community and enhance the collaborative research environment for which we are known.
Our world-class faculty are eager to begin mentoring these promising new researchers, guiding them on the path to becoming the next generation of thought leaders. The arrival of this talented group marks another exciting chapter for our doctoral program, reinforcing our commitment to developing top-tier researchers who can address complex global business challenges. We look forward to the innovative contributions they will undoubtedly bring to their fields and our university community.
- Dr. Lauren Labrecque
Professor and Director of Ph.D. Programs and Research
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Hala Chamseddine
Marketing
Class of 2029
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Hala is a first-year Ph.D. student. She earned an MBA from Northeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from URI. Her professional experience includes work as both a substitute and design teacher, combining a passion for education with classroom leadership.
An active member of the URI community, she has served as a URI 101 Mentor and on the Business Student Advisory Council, roles that strengthened her commitment to mentorship and student engagement.
Hala's research centers on consumer behavior, with a particular focus on how social media and digital marketing shape decision-making and drive the growth of e-commerce relative to in-store purchasing.
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Danielle Cedeño
Supply Chain Management
Class of 2028
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Danielle is a first-year Ph.D. student. She earned her bachelor's degree in Sport and Recreation Management from Keystone College in La Plume, PA, before going on to earn her M.B.A. and Master's in Sport Management from Barry University in Miami Shores, FL, and her Master's in Homeland Security from Wilmington University, Wilmington, DE.
She is an active-duty Logistics Readiness Officer in the U.S. Air Force. She will focus her research on digital twins, predictive analytics, and supply chain resiliency as it relates to the Air Force mission.
Outside of academia, Danielle enjoys powerlifting and watching live sport.
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Shadmaan Siddiqui
Finance
Class of 2029
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Shadmaan is a first-year Ph.D. student. He brings seven years of industry experience, most recently as a fixed-income specialist at Fidelity Investments, trading and advising on Treasuries, municipal debt, and corporate bonds. Before that, he served in major Bangladeshi banks, culminating as Junior Assistant VP in Wholesale Banking at Mutual Trust Bank, where he helped execute the country’s largest IPFF term loan.
Shadmaan holds an M.A. in Analytical Economics from the University of New Hampshire. His research interests span retirement planning, fixed-income markets, behavioral finance, and financial regulation and governance.
A former competitive debater (WUDC 2013 ESL octofinalist; Australs 2014 ESL semifinalist), he continues to mentor high school debate teams.
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Where Are They Now?
Checking in with past PhD Students
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Hasan Ashraf
Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management
California State University Long Beach
URI PhD: 2023
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Q. What, in your opinion, was the most pivotal moment (either a roadblock or an enabler) between your dissertation and today?
A. Roadblocks are part of every academic journey, and it depends on how you perceive them. For me, one of the major psychological roadblocks was deciding what type of school I wanted to join and the locations I was, or was not, open to. That’s where your advisor and committee play a very important role. When a few early offers came up, I felt it was the right time to say yes, but it was my conversations with my advisor, Dr. Yalcin, that helped me visualize the path ahead and take a leap of faith...
| | Recent College of Business PhD News & Events
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Fatma Pakdil successfully defended her dissertation proposal
Fatma's dissertation develops personalized 30-day hospital readmission risk models to help hospitals anticipate patient flow and improve quality and cost.
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Mehrnaz Khalaj Hedayati promoted to Associate Professor
Mehrnaz has officially earned tenure and promotion to Associate Professor at Georgia College & State University’s J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology!
Here’s to the next chapter of impact and learning!
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SCM End of Year Picnic
The SCM Area wrapped the year with a sunny early-June picnic at Goddard Park. Great food, lots of laughs, and even better company—thanks to everyone who came out!
Big thanks to our organizers for making it a perfect start to summer.
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Wangsuk Suh
Marketing
Wangsuk defended his dissertation titled, “Heuristics, Biases, And Preferences of AI: Time and Risk Preferences Among Generative AI Systems" (Dr. Steven Atlas, Major Professor) and is now an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Kennesaw State University, Georgia.
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Rosemary Leger
Marketing
Rosemary defended her dissertation titled, “Swap What No Longer Serves”: An Exploration of Zero Waste Fashion Communities Online and IRL" (Dr. Hillary Leonard, Major Professor) and is now an Assistant Professor of Fashion and Director of the Fashion Collection at Lasell University, Massachusetts.
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Courtney Hixon
Marketing
Courtney defended her dissertation titled, “Cueing into the Culture: Awe’s Impact on Black Women’s Sunscreen Rituals & Consumer-To-Consumer Advocacy” (Dr. Christy Ashley, Major Professor) and is now an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Meredith College, North Carolina.
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Nafise Aalipour
Finance
Nafise defended her dissertation titled, "Three Essays on Investment Strategies, Machine Learning, and Risk Management" (Dr. Georges Tsafack, major professor) and is now an assistant professor of finance in the School of Management at The University of Michigan - Flint.
| | | AREA-SPECIFIC INITIATIVES | | In recent finance seminars, Professor Shingo Goto presented his paper “Adding Noise to Reduce Noise: A Counter-Intuitive Approach to Stock Return Prediction”, which proposed innovative noise-injection methods that enhance out-of-sample prediction accuracy in high-dimensional financial forecasting. Also, Professor Choonsik Lee shared his work “AI as a Proxy Advisor”, demonstrating how AI can provide more transparent and objective voting recommendations for shareholder proposals. | | | The Supply Chain Management (SCM) area is excited to announce the launch of the SCM PhD Research Incubator at URI’s College of Business. Facilitated by Dr. Mehmet Yalcin and driven by current PhD cohorts, this new initiative creates a safe and collaborative space to cultivate research ideas, reflect on the challenges of PhD life, and engage in scholarly exchange. The incubator fosters connections across faculty, current students, and alumni, strengthening our community of SCM scholars. | | | | | |
Congrats to PhD students Ali Raoufi and Derek Dubois on being selected for CSCMP’s Donald J. Bowersox Doctoral Symposium this October at EDGE in National Harbor, MD.
Additionally, Derek, along with co-authors Muhammad Hasan Ashraf, Koray Özpolat, Maling Ebrahimpour, and Mehmet Yalcin, received this year’s Teaching Innovation Award for their research, “Mapping the Maze: Developing Curricula in Supply Chain Management.”
| | RECENT URI ALUMNI PUBLICATIONS | | |
Jiayuan Zhang
Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater
URI PhD: 2021
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Zhang, J., Özpolat, K., Karamemis, G., & Schniederjans, D. (2025). "To disclose or not? The impact of prosocial behavior disclosure on the attainment of social capital on social networking sites." Decision Support Systems, 192, 114437.
Abstract
While some donors and volunteers do not publicize their prosocial behaviors because of humility, many others fear that disclosing their prosocial behaviors may be perceived as bragging. With the rise of social networking sites (SNSs), this has become an essential issue with important business implications...
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Christy Ashley
Professor and Area Coordinator Marketing, URI
URI PhD: 2006
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Labrecque, L. I., Sohn, S., Seegebarth, B., & Ashley, C. (2025). "Color Me Effective: The Impact of Color Saturation on Perceptions of Potency and Product Efficacy." Journal of Marketing, 89(4), 120-139.
Abstract
Consumers use observable cues, like color, to help them evaluate products. This research establishes that consumers infer greater product efficacy from higher color saturation across seven lab experiments (n = 2,745), a web scraping study, and a field experiment. The studies provide evidence that...
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