First Research Day Showcases Ideas Across Marketing, Management and Supply Chain
The Big Picture
The Department of Marketing, Management and Supply Chain hosted its first Research Day on May 18 at the Woody L. Hunt College of Business.
The event brought together more than 25 faculty and student researchers to share work, discuss current projects and build connections across the department.
Why It Matters
Research Day was created to strengthen the department’s research culture by giving faculty, Ph.D. students and undergraduate researchers a space to exchange ideas.
The inaugural event also highlighted the range of work happening across the department’s three academic areas: Marketing, management and supply chain.
What They’re Saying
“Our first Research Day reflects the depth of ideas, collaboration and scholarly activity taking place across our department,” said José Humberto Ablanedo Rosas, Ph.D., Marketing, Management and Supply Chain Department Chair. “It created a space for faculty and students to learn from one another, build connections and continue strengthening the research culture within our department.”
Inside the Event
The program featured presentations from faculty members, Ph.D. students and one undergraduate student.
Presenters shared work on topics including sustainability attitudes, artificial intelligence in executive decision-making, food insecurity, corporate social responsibility, work-family conflict and large language model preferences.
Presentations
Francisco Raygoza
Hunt College Undergraduate Student
“Examining Sustainability Attitudes Among Undergraduate Students at UTEP”
Advisor: Fernanda Garcia, Ph.D., Professor of Management
Troy McGarity
Management Ph.D. Student
“Augmenting Bounded Rationality: CEO-AI Collaboration in M&A Decisions”
Co-authors: Sergio Grove, Ph.D.; Eduardo D. Villacis-Calderon, Ph.D.; Mengge Li, Ph.D.; and Manjot S. Bhussar, Ph.D. (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)
Partha Mishra, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management
“The Role of Cold Storage in Alleviating Food Insecurity: Evidence from a Refrigeration Donation Program”
Co-authors: Stanley Lim, Ph.D. (Michigan State University) and Monireh Mahmoudi, Ph.D. (Michigan State University)
Zerui Cheng
Marketing Ph.D. Student
“Disruption, Configuration, and Trade-Offs: CSR Dimensional Alignment and Financial Outcomes after Product Harm Crises”
Co-author: Jianjun Zhu, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing
Cynthia Halliday, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Management
“More Money than Him, More Conflict for Her: A Longitudinal Investigation of the Partner Pay Gap, Work-Family Conflict, and Well-Being”
Co-authors: Sabrina Speights, Ph.D. (Center for Creative Leadership) and Andrew Loignon (Center for Creative Leadership)
Boheng Xu
Marketing Ph.D. Student
“Two Roads to Frontier-LLM Preference: Complexity-Conditional Adaptation and Universal Effort Signaling in Chatbot Arena — A Joint Empirical Test of Capability, Adaptation, and Signaling Across Frontier-LLM Battles”
What’s Next
Research Day will be held twice a year, with the next event planned for the end of the Fall 2026 semester.
Last Updated on May 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM | Originally published May 20, 2026
Posted by Hunt Creative
