The Gatton Research Excellence Series highlights outstanding scholarship across the college, recognizing faculty and doctoral students whose work is advancing knowledge in their fields. Held each fall for faculty and each spring for doctoral students, the series provides a platform for award recipients to present their research to the Gatton community.
This spring, four doctoral students will share their work, offering insight into emerging ideas and rigorous inquiry shaping business research today. Each presenter has been selected for their research excellence and will be formally recognized during the event.
Join us to learn more about the impactful work being produced at Gatton and to celebrate the next generation of scholars.
Presentation by Yuling Guo
Yuling Guo will present her research on TV news coverage and its impact on retail trading. Using over a decade of timestamped transcripts from CNBC, Fox Business Network, and Bloomberg TV matched with minute-level trading data, she finds that retail trading volume rises following coverage, and retail order flow shifts in the direction of the news tone. The initial TV mention increases retail trading informativeness, particularly when institutional trading is elevated. Her results show that TV news disseminates valuable information to retail investors and enhances the information efficiency of their trading, helping reduce asymmetry between retail and institutional investors.
Yuling is a fifth-year finance Ph.D. candidate at Gatton. Her research interests lie in retail investors, social media, and corporate repurchases. Before entering the doctoral program, she earned her bachelor’s degree in financial engineering from Nanjing University.
Presentation by Ting Yao Yan
Ting-Yao Yan’s presentation examines whether an increase in the competition between banks effects non-bank companies. Exploiting the interstate bank deregulation across U.S. states during the 1980s and 1990s, his research estimates the dynamic responses of credit flows using Compustat data on firms and local projections. He finds that an increase in bank competition leads to an immediate 70% increase in short-term credit creation, followed by a peak in short-term credit destruction in the second year. In contrast, long-term credit is less responsive. Further analysis shows that credit reallocation is primarily driven by larger and older firms.
Ting-Yao is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Economics. His research focuses on empirical macroeconomics including banking and demographics. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from National Central University in Taiwan and a Master's Degree from Tufts University. He is currently on the job market for the academic year 2025–2026.
Presentation by Noelle Otto
Why do some of the most desired connections in organizations never materialize, even when the “right” people are only a step or two apart?
Noelle Otto will present a program of research on the psychological barriers that prevent network connections from forming and, in turn, limit the access and resources that social networks can provide. Across three related projects conducted in collaboration with Ko Kuwabara and colleagues, she explores this puzzle as two sides of the same coin: why individuals who are structurally positioned to connect others sometimes refrain, and why individuals seeking access may misjudge how to ask for it. Her work lays out arguments and evidence pertaining to trust, lay beliefs about social capital, and referral requests to explain when and why connecting others can be so elusive.
Noelle Otto is a third-year Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Management at the Gatton College of Business and Economics. Her research primarily examines social networks, with a focus on the cognitive and relational mechanisms that shape how connections translate into learning and opportunity.
Presentation by Kaschia Wade
Kaschia Wade will present her research on whether directors’ nationality-heterogeneous external ties, formed through shared board affiliations, relate to firm value and performance. She finds that firms whose directors have more nationally heterogeneous ties exhibit higher firm value and stronger operating performance. The association is strongest among younger and smaller firms, consistent with the view that these ties are most valuable when internal resources and information channels are limited. It is also stronger for more homogeneous boards, suggesting cohesive boards better integrate heterogeneous external inputs. The findings indicate that this matters for boards, nominating committees, and investors because directors’ cross-national networks shape the information and perspectives available at the top of the firm, with observable implications for operating performance and valuation.
Kaschia is a Ph.D. candidate at the Von Allmen School of Accountancy. Prior to her doctoral studies, she taught accounting and finance at several universities. She holds a master’s degree in business administration, with concentrations in accounting and finance, from Radford University, and a bachelor's degree in business administration, specializing in accounting and finance, from Roanoke College.
