Benjamin Kessler

The combination of two unlikely bedfellows—cryptography, a subfield of computer science, and currency, a topic in economics—is at the heart of the transformative potential of its underlying blockchain technology. But the uniqueness of the pairing can make it very difficult for research professionals in either field to predict, let alone positively influence, blockchain’s future development. Jiasun Li, an assistant professor of finance at Mason, is among an elite group of academics who are bridging the divide by merging relevant concepts from computer science with game theory—a subfield of economics that studies the interactions of decisions made by interdependent economic actors.

Recent research from Heather Vough, associate professor of management at Mason, argues that gaffes have potential negative consequences that go far beyond an awkward or uncomfortable moment.

Despite the software industry’s rapid growth and deep pockets, tech companies are still engaged in bare-knuckles battle with cybercriminals. Nirup Menon and Pallab Sanyal's recent research confirms the existence of a willingness-to-pay (WTP) dilemma.

Managerial overconfidence is a serious risk that has drawn increasing attention from executives, investors, and researchers in recent years. Mindy (Hyo Jung) Kim, an assistant professor of accounting at Mason, has not only found that it’s possible to incorporate ability-adjusted overconfidence into real-world business assessments, but that it happens routinely.

Cheryl Druehl, an operations management professor at Mason as well as the Mason's School of Business associate dean for faculty, has found that unblind contests can foster contestant behaviors that constrain overall innovativeness.

School of Business professor David J. Miller's forthcoming book, Sweating Together: How Peloton Built a Billion-Dollar Venture and Created a Community in a Digital World, combines Miller’s personal story of falling in love with the Peloton brand with strategic lessons taken from the company’s meteoric rise.

C. Kat Grimsley, former director of the Masters in Real Estate Development program at Mason, was one of six co-authors and core researchers on a recent U.N. report on affordable housing, in line with United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)’s #Housing2030 initiative.

Tarun Kushwaha, a professor of marketing at the George Mason University School of Business, recently ran an experiment that pitted the brainpower of actual human executives against trained algorithms.

Kelly Wentland, an accounting professor at the George Mason University School of Business, recently published a paper in Management Science that further specifies and quantifies firm response to tax uncertainty.

Information Systems and Operations Management Professor Brad Greenwood's forthcoming paper is by far the most extensive analysis of body-worn cameras' impact in a major American city.