New Carlson School Tenure-Track Faculty: 2023

Assistant Professor Nitya Chawla joins the Carlson School after spending three years as an assistant professor at Texas A&M University. Her research centers on how organizations and leaders can build inclusive and humanized workplaces for employees. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, she recently co-authored a paper that explored the experiences of Black law enforcement officers and their consistent anti-racism efforts amid ongoing discrimination.

Department: Work and Organizations
Research Specialties: Diversity and inclusion with organizations, employee well-being, factors impacting job seekers' success and well-being
Fun Fact: Loves exploring new places and restaurants with her husband and toddler

"As organizations and business leaders grapple with the ‘future of work’ and attempt to return to ‘normal’ in the post-pandemic world, I believe that we have been presented with the unique opportunity to create organizational workspaces that work for everyone, and not just a select group(s) of individuals."

Assistant Professor Thomas Helgerman comes to the Carlson School after earning his PhD in Economics at the University of Michigan. With him, he brings an interest in understanding why labor market outcomes vary systematically by gender and how public policy can combat inequities in these outcomes. Among his recent research includes a re-examination of how the Equal Pay Act successfully raised women’s wages.

Department: Work and Organizations
Research Specialties: Labor economics, economic history, gender and family economics
Fun fact: Played the trumpet in the University of Pittsburgh Marching Band

"My work has found that sweeping anti-discrimination policy in the 1960s and 1970s was, in many cases, effective in combating gender inequities, which can help to inform successful policy today."

Working for four years with public utility clients at PwC instilled in Assistant Professor Shuyan Wang an interest in risk and liquidity management. Wang went on to earn her PhD in Accounting at Duke University. One of her recent projects explored how accounting disclosures shape depositors’ beliefs central to panic. The research received media attention during the regional banking crisis earlier this year.

Department: Accounting
Research Specialties: Information disclosure, corporate hedging, and banking
Fun Fact: Recently picked up tennis as her fourth racket sport

"Risk and liquidity management lie at the center of companies’ financial decisions. Through my research, I hope to understand how information and disclosures influence businesses’ hedging efficiency and funding stability."

After earning his PhD in Economics this year at Stanford University, Assistant Professor Adam Zhang joined the Carlson School. Teaching financial literacy classes as a doctoral student
led him to research how asset price movements impact people’s daily lives. Zhang has also examined the recent rise of target date funds, a new financial instrument that’s changing retirement saving dynamics.

Department: Finance
Research Specialties: Asset pricing, household finance, macro-finance
Fun Fact: Hasn’t seen snow in about 10 years, but expects that will soon change

"My research focuses on household financial decisions and equilibrium asset prices to understand their connection on a macro level. I enjoy studying these questions because the answer to them guides us in achieving equitable financial wellbeing for everyone."