The Gatton College of Business and Economics is pleased to present the Spring 2023 Gatton Doctoral Research Excellence Series focusing on the impact of our current PhD candidates and their research. Each presenter will give a brief presentation in BE383 from 3:00 to 4:00 PM followed by a reception from 4 - 5:30 PM in Woodward Hall.

Chenduo Du will present her published work in the Journal of Applied Psychology, which investigates how and why COVID-19-associated uncertainty affects employee work outcomes.

Chenduo Du is a PhD candidate in the Department of Management, specializing in Organizational Behavior. She received her master’s degree from Renmin University of China and her bachelor’s degree from Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, China.

Tian Qiu’s research project is titled “Filing Agents and Information Leakage.” This research is a joint project with Gatton finance faculty Leonce Bargeron and Chris Clifford.

Tian Qiu is a PhD candidate in the Department of Finance & Quantitative Methods at the University of Kentucky. He received his master’s degree from the University of Illinois and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests lie in empirical corporate finance and disclosure. He will join the University of Alabama in August 2023.

Blake Holman will share one of his research projects that focuses on improving accounting practitioners’ evaluations of complex estimates.

Blake is a PhD Candidate at the Von Allmen School of Accountancy whose research interests include judgment and decision-making in audit, primarily focusing on issues related to audit technologies and evidence evaluation. He received his Master's in Accountancy from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. He will join the University of Central Florida in August 2023. 

Umair Usman will present two of the projects that are representative of his research interest in consumers’ responses to new technologies in marketing. Specifically, he will share how blockchain-augmented marketing claims have the potential to enhance consumers' confidence in a brand's marketing claims and how a sycophant artificial intelligence can influence users' responses to it.

Umair has successfully defended his dissertation and is graduating with a PhD in Marketing from the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain in Spring 2023. He received his BSc (Hons) in Accounting and Finance in 2015 from the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan. He will join Florida International University in August 2023.