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Stuart School of Business

Bridging Business and Technology

Student Research at Stuart

Stuart School of Business
Research
Student Research at Stuart

Developing Research Skills That Advance Career Goals

Research is embedded throughout the undergraduate and graduate curriculum at Stuart School of Business. Whether students' interests are oriented toward industry, entrepreneurship, the public and nonprofit sectors, or academia, Stuart provides a wide range of opportunities for them to develop research skills that can advance their career goals. With faculty as mentors, students can engage in:

Graduate thesis and capstone projects
Scholarly research papers and presentations at academic conferences
Independent study projects
Group projects for courses
National and international business competitions, in which students conduct in-depth research in areas such as equity valuation and portfolio management

Hands-on Research at Stuart

Quantitative Analyst, Morningstar

A solid background in research methodology and opportunities to co-author scholarly publications have prepared Yao Xie to advance his career in quantitative finance.

Yao “Jason” Xie (M.S. FIN ’15, Ph.D. MSC ’21)

Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Saint Michael’s College

Rigorous training in finance and faculty mentors helped Xinting Zhen gain the knowledge and skills to launch her career as a researcher and teacher.

Xinting Zhen (Ph.D. MSC ’18)

Developer, Lakeside Trading

A capstone project with Associate Professor Sang Baum Kang gave Trevor Wheeler the chance to build on his classroom learning and to show his understanding of investments and trading.

Trevor Wheeler (M.B.A./M.S. FIN ’19)

Associate Professor of Finance, City University of New York

Seeing his professors create knowledge and change the paradigm through their research set Seungho Baek on the path to follow them into academia.

Seungho Baek (Ph.D. MSC ’13)

Ph.D. Student and Research Assistant, Auburn University

M.P.A. courses in policy analysis and quantitative research methods inspired Xi Chen to pursue a doctorate on the way to a potential academic career.

Xi Chen (M.P.A. ’17)

Quantitative Analyst, Morningstar

A solid background in research methodology and opportunities to co-author scholarly publications have prepared Yao Xie to advance his career in quantitative finance.

Yao “Jason” Xie (M.S. FIN ’15, Ph.D. MSC ’21)

Xinting Zhen

Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Saint Michael’s College

Rigorous training in finance and faculty mentors helped Xinting Zhen gain the knowledge and skills to launch her career as a researcher and teacher.

Xinting Zhen (Ph.D. MSC ’18)

Photo of Trevor Wheeler

Developer, Lakeside Trading

A capstone project with Associate Professor Sang Baum Kang gave Trevor Wheeler the chance to build on his classroom learning and to show his understanding of investments and trading.

Trevor Wheeler (M.B.A./M.S. FIN ’19)

Seungho Baek

Associate Professor of Finance, City University of New York

Seeing his professors create knowledge and change the paradigm through their research set Seungho Baek on the path to follow them into academia.

Seungho Baek (Ph.D. MSC ’13)

Xi Chen

Ph.D. Student and Research Assistant, Auburn University

M.P.A. courses in policy analysis and quantitative research methods inspired Xi Chen to pursue a doctorate on the way to a potential academic career.

Xi Chen (M.P.A. ’17)

Recent Publications, Presentations, and Projects

Here are some examples of current Stuart students and recent graduates who have collaborated with faculty on research projects.

Di He (Ph.D. MSC ’20), Postdoctoral Research Center of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Beijing, is a co-author with Associate Professor of Finance Li Cai and Associate Professor of Finance Ricky Cooper of “,” published in the Journal of Investing, August 2023.
You Lu (Stuart Ph.D. MSC ’20), assistant professor of finance at Soochow University, China is co-author with Associate Professor of Finance Yiwei Fang and Associate Professor of Finance Sang Baum Kang of “,” published in the Journal of Financial Stability, August 2023.
Zixuan Jiao (Stuart Ph.D. MSC ’22), senior associate at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, is co-author with Associate Professor of Finance Ricky Cooper of “,” published in the Journal of Portfolio Management, April 2023.
Yao Xie (M.S. Finance ’15, Ph.D. MSC ’21), an associate quantitative analyst at Morningstar Inc., and Jialin Zhao (Stuart Ph.D. MSC ’17), associate professor of quantitative management at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, are co-authors with Associate Professor of Finance Sang Baum Kang of “,” published in The Journal of Alternative Investments, March 2023. Read more in Illinois Tech news.
Stuart Ph.D. student Hui Li, Assistant Professor Jianrong Wang (Stuart Ph.D. MSC ’20) at East China Normal University, and Associate Professor of Finance Wei Du (Stuart M.S. FIN ’10) at West Chester University are co-authors with Associate Professor of Management Smriti Anand of “,” published in the Journal of Business Research, September 2022.

Catherine Sanchez

Capstone Project Becomes Blueprint for Innovation

Catherine Sanchez (M.P.A. ’17) was a veteran �鶹APP police officer when she went back to school part-time for a master’s at Stuart. For her capstone project she researched and developed a new crisis intervention model to guide police interactions with people with mental illness. Now she is leading the way to pilot the model at the �鶹APP Police Department.

Stuart School of Business

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