Gies College of Business

Introducing the first class of AI faculty fellows! These faculty are developing discipline-
specific AI curricula, and designing and testing new models that reflect both the opportunities and the responsible use of emerging AI technologies.

🔸 Eren Ahsen
🔹 Myoung Kim
🔸 Aimee Barbeau
🔹 Fei Du
🔸 Hongyu Wang
🔹 Joshua Herbold
🔸 Ashish Khandelwal
🔹 Oktay Urcan
🔸 Julian Reif
🔹 David Molitor
🔸 Maria Rodas
🔹 Vishal Sachdev
🔸 Jason Satchell
🔹 Deepak Somaya
🔸 Sandra Corredor
🔹 Wei Zhu

As AI continues to accelerate and change, we're proud to be investing in innovative approaches that place human expertise at the center of AI: https://ow.ly/CHmS50Z9yGn

iVenture alumnus Sean Chang is modernizing how campuses and community recreation facilities operate through DoubleSpot.

What started with insights gained during an internship with the Los Angeles Dodgers has grown into a fast-scaling startup now partnered with CENTERS LLC and operating across nearly a dozen states: https://ow.ly/XLW150Z9y9a

When a task can be done in a safe way or a risky way, most people play it safe - especially if they know they're being evaluated.

But Gies Business researchers Clara Chen and Laura Wang found that encouraging employees to share failures flips that instinct, making them more willing to experiment and more likely to succeed: https://ow.ly/ihGb50Z8PHS

With the affiliate marketing business consistently growing, are YouTuber product reviewers sticking to FTC disclosure guidelines? And what's the effect on viewer engagement?

A study from Gies researcher Jingwen Zhang found that less than 50% of influencers are following the guidelines, but without laws in place, many small creators are flying under the radar: https://ow.ly/faHE50Z7awJ

The 12th cohort of the iVenture Accelerator kicked off last week in Champaign before heading to Chicago for the summer!

From a tour of Research Park to Media Day and a visit from Dean Brooke Elliott, this first week of engaging programming is just the start for our student ventures!

We're proud to announce this year's Gies Business Advanced Study Scholars: faculty members Erik Beardsley, Yang Gao, and Spyros Lagaras!

Now in its second year, the Gies Business Advanced Study Scholars program recognizes promising assistant professors whose research track record to date has proven to be outstanding: https://ow.ly/gkOb50Z5EfC

Congratulations to Jeff and Forough Haskel, two iMBA learners who won the Larry F. Voitik Prize in this year's Cozad New Venture Competition!

This husband and wife team are developing a startup, Agrivoy, which they call the Airbnb of
agritourism: https://ow.ly/gfpV50Z58Hw

Learn more about entrepreneurship at Gies College of Business: https://ow.ly/fn4250Z58Hu

As part of her year-long Carle Illinois College of Medicine Capstone in the iMBA program, Galina Mihalkina joined an interdisciplinary team of engineers and medical professionals to develop PeriAssist, a device to reduce severe trauma for both mothers and babies during difficult deliveries.

While the medical and engineering students focused on the mechanical specifications, Mihalkina was responsible for coordinating all the moving pieces of the business side, putting learning into action:

Healthcare Innovation: How one iMBA student is improving the birthing experience Galina Mihalkina, a Gies iMBA student, helped develop PeriAssist, a medical device aimed at reducing trauma during difficult childbirths by filling a gap between existing tools. As the project’s business lead, she handled strategy, stakeholder mapping, and commercialization, helping the team win a...