Experts Matter. Find Yours.
Connect for media, speaking, professional opportunities & more.
#Expert Research: The Use of AI in Financial Reporting
Artificial intelligence (AI) is developing into an amazing tool to help humans across multiple fields, including medicine and research, and much of that work is happening at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Financial reporting and auditing are both areas where AI can have a significant impact as companies and audit firms are rapidly adopting the use of such technology. But are financial managers willing to rely on the results of AI-generated information? In the context of audit adjustments, it depends on whether their company uses AI as well. Willing to Rely on AI? Cassandra Estep, assistant professor of accounting at Goizueta Business School, and her co-authors have a forthcoming study looking at financial managers’ perceptions of the use of AI, both within their companies and by their auditors. Research had already been done on how financial auditors react to using AI for evaluating complex financial reporting. That got Estep and her co-authors thinking there’s more to the story. “A big, important part of the financial reporting and auditing process is the managers within the companies being audited. We were interested in thinking about how they react to the use of AI by their auditors,” Estep says. “But then we also started thinking about what companies are investing in AI as well. That joint influence of the use of AI, both within the companies and by the auditors that are auditing the financials of those companies, is where it all started.” The Methodology Estep and her co-authors conducted a survey and experiment with senior-level financial managers with titles like CEO, CFO, or Controller – the people responsible for making financial reporting decisions within companies. The survey included questions to understand how companies are using AI. It also included open-ended questions designed to identify key themes about financial managers’ perceptions of AI use by their companies and their auditors. In the experiment, participants completed a hypothetical case in which they were asked about their willingness to record a downward adjustment to the fair value of a patent proposed by their auditors. The scenarios varied across randomly assigned conditions as to whether the auditor did or not did not use AI in coming up with the proposed valuation and adjustment, and whether their company did or did not use AI in generating their estimated value of the patent. When both the auditor and the company used AI, participants were willing to record a larger adjustment amount, i.e., decrease the value of the patent more. The authors find that these results are driven by increased perceptions of accuracy. It’s not necessarily a comfort thing, but a signal from the company that this is an acceptable way to do things, and it actually caused them to perceive the auditors’ information as more accurate and of higher quality. Cassandra Estep, assistant professor of accounting “Essentially, they viewed the auditors’ recommendation for adjusting the numbers to be more accurate and of higher quality, and so they were more willing to accept the audit adjustment,” Estep says. Making Financial Reporting More Efficient Financial reporting is a critical process in any business. Companies and investors need timely and accurate information to make important decisions. With the added element of AI, financial reporting processes can include more external data. We touched on the idea that these tools can hopefully process a lot more information and data. For example, we’ve seen auditors and managers talk about using outside information. Cassandra Estep “Auditors might be able to use customer reviews and feedback as one of the inputs to deciding how much warranty expense the company should be estimating. And is that amount reasonable? The idea is that if customers are complaining, there could be some problem with the products.” Adding data to analytical processes, when done by humans alone, adds a significant amount of time to the calculations. Research from the European Spreadsheets Risks Interest Group says that more than 90% of all financial spreadsheets contain at least one error. Some forms of AI can process hundreds of thousands of calculations overnight, typically with fewer errors. In short, it can be more efficient. Efficiency was brought up a lot in our survey, the idea that things could be done faster with AI. Cassandra Estep “We also asked the managers about their perspective on the audit side, and they did hope that audit fees would go down, because auditors would be able to do things more quickly and efficiently as well,” Estep says. “But the flip side of that is that using AI could also raise more questions and more issues that have to be investigated. There’s also the potential for more work.” The Fear of Being Replaced The fear of being replaced is a more or less universal worry for anyone whose industry is beginning to adopt the use of AI in some form. While the respondents in Estep’s survey looked forward to more efficient and effective handling of complex financial reporting by AI, they also emphasized the need to keep the human element involved in any decisions made using AI. What we were slightly surprised about was the positive reactions that the managers had in our survey. While some thought the use of AI was inevitable, there’s this idea that it can make things better. Cassandra Estep “But there’s still a little bit of trepidation,” Estep says. “One of the key themes that came up was yes, we need to use these tools. We should take advantage of them to improve the quality and the efficiency with which we do things. But we also need to keep that human element. At the end of the day, humans need to be responsible. Humans need to be making the decisions.” A Positive Outlook The benefits of AI were clear to the survey participants. They recognized it as a positive trend, whether or not it was currently used in their financial reporting. If they weren’t regularly using AI, they expected to be using it soon. I think one of the most interesting things to us about this paper is this idea that AI can be embraced. Companies and auditors are still somewhat in their infancy of figuring out how to use it, but big investments are being made. Cassandra Estep “And then, again, there’s the fact that our experiment also shows a situation where managers were willing to accept the auditors’ proposed adjustments. This arguably goes against their incentives as management to keep the numbers more positive or optimistic,” Estep continues. “The auditors are serving that role of helping managers provide more reliable financial information, and that can be viewed as a positive outcome.” “There’s still some hesitation. We’re still figuring out these tools. We see examples all the time of where AI has messed up, or put together false information. But I think the positive sentiment across our survey participants, and then also the results of our experiment, reinforce the idea that AI can be a good thing and that it can be embraced. Even in a setting like financial reporting and auditing, where there can be fear of job replacement, the focus on the human-technology interaction can hopefully lead to improved situations.” Cassandra Estep, is an assistant professor of accounting at Goizueta Business School, and a co-author of the forthcoming study looking at financial managers’ perceptions of the use of AI. She's available to speak about this important topic - simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.
When an invitation to sit on the Georgia Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers arrived in an informal email from a colleague, Michael Toma, Ph.D., welcomed the chance to share his ongoing research on the economic health of southeastern Georgia with Gov. Brian Kemp, the Georgia House of Representatives and Senate leadership and their constituents. However, when he joined a small group of colleagues from around the state in a legislative office near the capitol in Atlanta late last year, the opportunity felt far from casual. “It does seem like it’s an honor because I looked around the table and there were only 10 or so of us from the entire state of Georgia,” said Toma, the Fuller E. Callaway professor of economics in Georgia Southern University’s Parker College of Business. “It’s nice to be invited to join this council informing the executive and legislative branches of government about economic conditions in the state of Georgia. I know the southeastern part of the state, so it’s nice to be recognized and be invited to speak about this region to a state-level audience.” The Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers is a select group of mostly higher education economists from various University System of Georgia institutions, in addition to the chief economist from Georgia Power, who meet annually. Toma, who specializes in macroeconomics and regional economics, is well known for his expertise throughout Savannah and the surrounding region. Since 2000, he has written and distributed The Economic Monitor, a quarterly publication housed within Georgia Southern’s Economics Department and Center for Business Analytics and Economic Research. The economic analysis offers a snapshot of the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area economy, including Bryan, Chatham and Effingham counties, and informs business owners across the Coastal Empire. He also regularly speaks to chambers of commerce and business groups in the region. In the governor’s council meeting, which was televised to state legislators, the economists took turns speaking about their respective areas of expertise to Gov. Kemp as part of an educational process and annual update for the executive and legislative branches. “The academics from the different institutions discussed economic conditions in their regions of the state,” Toma said. “I highlighted the activity here in Savannah, the growing manufacturing base and the wages associated with the Hyundai plant being injected into the regional economy, and the build-out of the supply chain for the Hyundai plant. “I discussed manufacturing development in the context of broader economic growth within the region that’s layered on top of our normal growth pattern, and that the economic development initiative is starting to pay the dividends it was anticipated to pay.” Following each individual presentation, the governor held an open forum for all in attendance to speak more fluidly with the group. “He had questions for the panel in general about small business activity,” stated Toma. “So I was able to characterize the ecosystem for small businesses in Chatham County. “He said that was a great report.” Toma holds a Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University. He joined Georgia Southern on the Armstrong Campus in Savannah in 1997. If you're interested in learning more about this topic and want to book time to talk or interview with Michael Toma then let us help - simply click on his icon now or contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.
Georgia Southern’s Shainaz Landge receives Regents’ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award
For Shainaz Landge, Ph.D., pushing boundaries in the classroom and the laboratory isn’t just a professional pursuit, it’s a passion. As an associate professor of organic chemistry at Georgia Southern University, Landge has spent more than a decade inspiring students to soar beyond traditional learning by blending research, mentorship and hands-on experiences that extend far beyond textbooks. That commitment to innovation has earned Landge the Regents’ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, an honor from the University System of Georgia (USG) that recognizes faculty who contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning through research, leadership and instructional excellence. “Receiving the Regents’ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award is a true honor,” said Landge. “It reinforces my passion for teaching and research, inspiring me to strive for excellence every day. My goal is to cultivate an engaging, positive learning environment where students are actively involved and genuinely excited about the learning process.” Landge’s work is grounded in synthetic organic, medicinal and supramolecular chemistry. Her research focuses on developing novel synthetic methodologies with applications in medicinal chemistry and materials science, creating compounds with potential therapeutic properties and supramolecular systems with unique functionalities. “This award is a reflection of Dr. Landge’s deep passion for education and research, and her ability to inspire students to think critically and engage meaningfully with the world around them,” said Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Carl Reiber, Ph.D. “At Georgia Southern, we are dedicated to fostering an environment of discovery and innovation, and her work continues to elevate that mission, both in and out of the classroom. We are fortunate to have her as part of our academic community.” This isn’t the first time Landge’s dedication to student engagement and scientific inquiry has garnered recognition. Previously, she earned a University Award of Excellence for Student Success in 2021 and the College of Science and Mathematics Award of Excellence in Research in 2023. “This award is a testament to Dr. Landge’s exceptional contributions to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning,” said Michael Huggins, Ph.D., dean of the College of Science and Mathematics. “Her innovative approach has not only deepened our understanding of effective teaching but has also led to measurable improvements in student outcomes across the College of Science and Mathematics.” In addition to her research and teaching, Landge has served as a Service-Learning Faculty Fellow (2023-2024) and is a current Research Advocate, reinforcing her commitment to bridging the gap between academic learning and real-world problem-solving. For more information about the Regents’ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, visit : If you're interested in connecting with Shainaz Landge and learning more about her work then let us help - simply contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.
UD researchers launch open-source tool to boost global food security and water sustainability
Efficient water usage in agriculture is crucial for sustaining a growing human population. A better understanding of the systems that support agriculture, farmers and farmlands allows for food production to become more efficient and prosperous. That's what makes the Monthly Irrigated and Rainfed Cropped Areas Open Source (MIRCA-OS) dataset so important. MIRCA-OS offers high-resolution data on 23 crop classes — including maize, rice and wheat — and helps researchers, students and farmers examine irrigation, rainfall and croplands and how they interact with global water systems. Co-authored by Endalkachew (Endi) Kebede, a doctoral student in University of Delaware’s Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, a recent paper focused on MIRCA-OS was published in Nature Scientific Data. Kyle Davis, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences and the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, served as a co-author on the paper and coordinated the study. “We first developed a comprehensive data library of crop-specific irrigated and rainfed harvested areas for all countries,” Kebede said. “This involved two years of gathering data from a wide range of international, national and regional sources. Through this process, we produced a tabulated crop calendar, annual harvested area grids and monthly harvested area grids for all irrigated and rainfed crops.” “The amount of effort that Endi put in to gather, process and harmonize all of this data is truly incredible,” Davis said. “His effort is a very important contribution to the scientific and development communities.” Doctoral student Endalkachew Kebede (left) and Assistant Professor Kyle Davis. (Photo credit: University of Delaware) Cropland accounts for 13% of Earth's total habitable land, and the preservation of cropland is important in feeding the growing global population. “Crop production has been a widespread human activity for a few thousand years, and it has a huge role in global food security,” Kebede said. “But it also has unintended impacts on the environment, such as overutilization of water resources, pollution through rivers or the effects on soil and the environment.” MIRCA-OS can play a crucial role in helping to better understand croplands and agriculture, allowing the global population to be successfully fed while minimizing the agricultural effects on the environment. In addition to the data included on cropland and water resources, MIRCA-OS allows researchers to view social aspects like poverty and unemployment through an agricultural lens, creating a better understanding of the interconnectivity of agriculture and social issues. MIRCA-OS is an updated version of the earlier MIRCA2000 dataset. Kebede said the MIRCA2000 was released nearly two decades ago, so renewing the data gives users more accurate and timely information. Both datasets specialized in examining irrigation and rainfall, but the MIRCA-OS added two new complexities to their data. First, MIRCA-OS is open source, meaning it is publicly available for anyone to use, download, or modify. Kebede said the added accessibility allows the technology to contribute to anyone's work, whether it be a student, a researcher or a farmer. “Anybody can use, update it, or upscale it to the special skill they’re interested in,” Kebede said. “Some might use it for research, some might use it to create policies and some might use it to practice agriculture.” To arrange an interview with Davis, visit his profile and click on the contact button.
When Luis Quiroga-Nuñez, Ph.D was appointed director of Florida Tech’s Ortega Observatory and its primary tenant – a non-functioning, 32-inch telescope – in 2023, he decided it was time to provide astronomy students and others a window to space. The observatory is already a base for research across a spectrum of cosmic exploration through disciplines such as astronomy and astrophysics, heliophysics, planetary science and astrobiology. However, current students have yet to see the stars up close, as the aging telescope, commissioned in 2008, has sat dormant for the last several years. With restoration, the telescope could be a powerful tool to train students to use professional telescopes and make observations – critical skills that will help prepare them for their future careers. It soon became apparent, however, that this was no simple task. The restoration would necessitate reverse engineering on a large scale to even understand how to fix and upgrade the telescope, much less actually repair it. It would also, as Quiroga-Nuñez wisely recognized, be its own powerful educational opportunity, providing unique hands-on learning opportunities for students in the College of Engineering and Science. “We are an institute of technology. We have perfectly capable people, like these young students, ready to join hands-on projects, get crazy and start to be creative.” Luis Quiroga-Nuñez With various issues to tackle and eager to support home-grown expertise, Quiroga-Nuñez and Lee Caraway, Ph.D, an instructor in the department of electrical engineering and computer science, recruited students with varied backgrounds, from astronomy to electrical engineering and computer science. Students could apply what they learned in class and grow their portfolios with a real-world project, the sort of experiential learning that is a hallmark of a Florida Tech education. Some improvements have been made, but the project remains an exciting puzzle for students and faculty alike. Here’s how they are doing it. An Interdisciplinary Project In January 2023, Quiroga-Nuñez partnered with Caraway to rebuild the telescope from the inside out. They say the conversation started over lunch, sketching ideas on a napkin. With various issues to tackle and eager to support home-grown expertise, Caraway and Quiroga-Nuñez recruited students with varied backgrounds, from astronomy to engineering to computer science. “This is about as real-world as you can get without leaving school. We have this giant piece of technology that is not working. Figure out why,” said recent graduate Adrianna Agustin ’24, who helped update the telescope’s communication system. “All of those problem-solving skills will directly translate to wherever we go in the future.” The project’s multidisciplinary nature also boosts collaboration between both sides of the college. “We keep integrating different parts of the university and involving students in a project that we were blinded by,” Quiroga-Nuñez says. “We sit between the scientists and the engineers.” And there’s no shortage of tasks. In addition to the refurbishment, Quiroga-Nuñez and Caraway are also completing routine telescope maintenance, with students taking on adjacent projects around the observatory. With the telescope repair, each student is given their own task, such as redesigning a small clip that supports the dome’s electric current, reviewing the conditions of the finder’s lens or understanding how analog devices control the telescope’s focus. This allocation allows each student to claim their own individual contribution to the greater telescope puzzle. Opening a Time Capsule The telescope’s biggest issues were mechanical and electrical, all exacerbated by age. Its motors were decades old and naturally failing, Caraway said. These motors controlled the telescope’s right ascension and declination – essentially, its ability to move. The chaotic interior also involved multiple individual systems with dozens of wires. And the circuits controlling the motors, which dated back to the 1980s, were also failing due to age. As Caraway noted, his students are sweeping off “dust older than them.” “The technology back then simply did not exist to control the motors, run the diagnostics and make it all happen,” Caraway explained. “They’re not designed to run 30 years.” Additionally, the computer program that controlled the motors was outdated and did not meet to the university’s security requirements. Given all this, the team needed to develop a new communication system for the telescope, starting with the computer software. They decided instead of purchasing an upgraded computer system, they could build and program their own in-house from scratch. Next, once the new computer was up and running, it needed motors to command. Marisa Guerra ’24 worked on a senior design project involving a robotic arm whose motor structure was the same as the telescope’s. She crafted a blueprint for the telescope’s new motors using what she learned for her capstone project. At the same time, Agustin worked on developing a cleaner communication system between the computer to the motors. Her senior design research focused on electric vehicles and their internal circuit systems, and she could replicate something similar within the telescope – but not without digging through the decaying electronics first. “We had to reverse engineer and actually redraw the circuits, which was good practice because a lot of the time, for senior design at least, you don’t really have to design a new circuit. You are just kind of puzzle-piecing it together,” Agustin said. “But with this circuit, all of them were bad.” Using Guerra’s and Agustin’s senior design research, the team reprogrammed the telescope’s circuits. What once took 20 wires to operate now only takes two. They also reduced the weight of the telescope’s motors from 40 pounds to just 2 pounds. Once the communication system was finished, the team was just waiting for mobility. And on a day in Spring 2024, thanks to the refurbished system, they were able to create movement within the telescope for the first time in years. “I didn’t even know if that device could move internally,” Quiroga-Nuñez says. The moment was celebrated, but the team knew this success triggered a new challenge. It was time to tackle high astrometric precision – a crucial element of properly tracking movement in space. “We are pointing to tiny points in the sky. If we do not track that properly, we are going to be lost in the universe,” Quiroga-Nuñez says. The Value of Time Perfecting precise movement is expected to take some time, but that’s not a bad thing, Quiroga-Nuñez says. He believes that a lengthy timeline will offer more value in the long run because it will give even more students a chance to get involved. Besides, its primary purpose will be to teach students how to use a telescope and allow them to make observations and prepare for their future careers. Ultimately, Quiroga-Nuñez predicts that the telescope could pick up its first image from space in about a year if everything stays on track. However, the team still has a lot of ground within the telescope to uncover, with an unpredictable number of potential troubleshooting challenges. For example, while rebuilding the motor, they discovered that the internal mirror that illuminates the telescope’s visuals was in poor condition – it needed cleaning and new aluminum to reflect enough light to see the telescope’s imagery, Agustin explains. So, the team had to remove the mirror and ship it to New York for refurbishment – a process that took several months. Once the mirror is reinstalled, they can return to their quest for better precision. The mirror is just one example of unpredictability in reverse-engineering. Ultimately, dedicating more time to understanding and solving the unforeseen challenges allows more students to participate in the telescope’s journey, Quiroga-Nuñez says. “This is like a big Lego for them,” he says. “They are learning the process, and the students, I think, will have found a very valuable life experience.” If you're interested in connecting with Luis Quiroga-Nuñez, director of Florida Tech’s Ortega Observatory - simply contact Adam Lowenstein, Director of Media Communications at Florida Institute of Technology at adam@fit.edu to arrange an interview today.
NASA Asks Researchers to Help Define Trustworthiness in Autonomous Systems
A Florida Tech-led group of researchers was selected to help NASA solve challenges in aviation through its prestigious University Leadership Initiative (ULI) program. Over the next three years, associate professor of computer science and software engineering Siddhartha Bhattacharyya and professor of aviation human factors Meredith Carroll will work to understand the vital role of trust in autonomy. Their project, “Trustworthy Resilient Autonomous Agents for Safe City Transportation in the Evolving New Decade” (TRANSCEND), aims to establish a common framework for engineers and human operators to determine the trustworthiness of machine-learning-enabled autonomous aviation safety systems. Autonomous systems are those that can perform independent tasks without requiring human control. The autonomy of these systems is expected to be enhanced with intelligence gained from machine learning. As a result, intelligence-based software is expected to be increasingly used in airplanes and drones. It may also be utilized in airports and to manage air traffic in the future. Learning-enabled autonomous technology can also act as contingency management when used in safety applications, proactively addressing potential disruptions and unexpected aviation events. TRANSCEND was one of three projects chosen for the latest ULI awards. The others hail from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach – researching continuously updating, self-diagnostic vehicle health management to enhance the safety and reliability of Advanced Air Mobility vehicles – and University of Colorado Boulder – investigating tools for understanding and leveraging the complex communications environment of collaborative, autonomous airspace systems. Florida Tech’s team includes nine faculty members from five universities: Penn State; North Carolina A&T State University; University of Florida; Stanford University; Santa Fe College. It also involves the companies Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and ResilienX of Syracuse, New York. Carroll and Bhattacharyya will also involve students throughout the project. Human operators are an essential component of aviation technology – they monitor independent software systems and associated data and intervene when those systems fail. They may include flight crew members, air traffic controllers, maintenance personnel or safety staff monitoring overall system safety. A challenge in implementing independent software is that engineers and operators have different interpretations of what makes a system “trustworthy,” Carroll and Bhattacharyya explained. Engineers who develop autonomous software measure trustworthiness by the system’s ability to perform as designed. Human operators, however, trust and rely on systems to perform as they expect – they want to feel comfortable relying on a system to make an aeronautical decision in flight, such as how to avoid a traffic conflict or a weather event. Sometimes, that reliance won’t align with design specifications. Equally important, operators also need to trust that the software will alert them when it needs a human to take over. This may happen if the algorithm driving the software encounters a scenario it wasn’t trained for. “We are looking at how we can integrate trust from different communities – from human factors, from formal methods, from autonomy, from AI…” Bhattacharyya said. “How do we convey assumptions for trust, from design time to operation, as the intelligent systems are being deployed, so that we can trust them and know when they’re going to fail, especially those that are learning-enabled, meaning they adapt based on machine learning algorithms?” With Bhattacharyya leading the engineering side and Carroll leading the human factors side, the research group will begin bridging the trust gap by integrating theories, principles, methods, measures, visualizations, explainability and practices from different domains – this will build the TRANSCEND framework. Then, they’ll test the framework using a diverse range of tools, flight simulators and intelligent decision-making to demonstrate trustworthiness in practice. This and other data will help them develop a safety case toolkit of guidelines for development processes, recommendations and suggested safety measures for engineers to reference when designing “trustworthy,” learning-enabled autonomous systems. Ultimately, Bhattacharyya and Carroll hope their toolkit will lay the groundwork for a future learning-enabled autonomous systems certification process. “The goal is to combine all our research capabilities and pull together a unified story that outputs unified products to the industry,” Carroll said. “We want products for the industry to utilize when implementing learning-enabled autonomy for more effective safety management systems.” The researchers also plan to use this toolkit to teach future engineers about the nuances of trust in the products they develop. Once developed, they will hold outreach events, such as lectures and camps, for STEM-minded students in the community. If you're interested in connecting with Meredith Carroll or Siddhartha Bhattacharyya - simply click on the expert's profile or contact Adam Lowenstein, Director of Media Communications at Florida Institute of Technology at adam@fit.edu to arrange an interview today.
From spacesuits to style icons: University of Delaware fashion grads make their mark on the industry
One of the best measures of a college program is where their alums land after graduation and beyond. In addition to the impressive list of soon-to-be degree holders who have already landed excellent jobs, the University of Delaware's fashion and apparel studies program can boast a roster of alums who now have prominent positions with some of the industry's most iconic companies as well as major retailers. Faculty at UD can talk about the materials that make up the proverbial fabric of their hidden gem of a program on the campus in Newark, Delaware. A quick snapshot of what some of the alums are up to: • Two students who have developed materials for space programs, including one who developed spacesuit textiles for future lunar missions. • A fashion merchandising graduate degree holder who now is a point person for sustainability at Tapestry, the home of iconic brands like Coach and Kate Spade. • High ranking executive at Target Brands. • An alum with a resume that includes Ralph Lauren and now Steve Madden. • Textile assistant with The Kasper Group, whose portfolio includes Nine West, Anne Klein, Kasper, Le Suit and Jones New York. Among this year's graduates is a star field hockey player from Argentina who landed a job at fashion retailer Moda Operandi; an award-winning student who will continue her pursuit of "changing the world" and making the fashion industry more sustainable as a graduate student at UD; and an entrepreneurship minor who paired her experience playing volleyball with design research that resulted in more comfortable apparel for athletes. To speak to one of these past or future graduates, contact mediarelations@udel.edu. Faculty from the program are also available for interviews: Huantian Cao, professor and department chair; Sheng Lu, professor and graduate director; and Brenda Shaffer, associate chair and undergraduate director.
Experts in the Media: With Kemp bowing out of mid-terms is Georgia staying blue?
Control of the Senate is key for most administrations, and with a razor-thin edge favoring the Republicans, any pickup to keep control of the Senate after the mid-term elections is a priority. However, with a heavy favorite in Gov. Brian Kemp stepping away from the chance to run for the GOP, many are speculating the once traditionally Republican stronghold could stay blue under the Democrats with the re-election of Sen. Jon Ossoff. It's a topic that has political watchers and media trying to cover and figure out as parties get ready to get back on the campaign trail for next year. It's also why journalists and news outlets like Newsweek are connecting with experts like William Hatcher, PhD, for expert opinion and perspective. An award-winning scholar, Hatcher is the chair of the Department of Social Sciences and a professor of political science. His research focuses on the connection between public administration and the development of local communities. Kemp's decision not to challenge Ossoff in the state's 2026 Senate race could be a boon to Democrats' chances of holding the seat in the battleground state, according to recent polls... Kemp's announcement follows months of speculation about whether he would challenge Ossoff, a Democrat first elected in 2020. Polls suggest Kemp would have been the strongest candidate against Ossoff and that other potential Republicans trail the incumbent senator in a hypothetical matchup. "Given that Kemp was perhaps the strongest candidate to face Ossoff, his decision to not run will make it difficult to find another candidate that would be as competitive. However, the election is over a year away, and in politics, a lot can happen in that amount of time," William Hatcher, chair and professor of social sciences at Augusta University, told Newsweek on Tuesday. A poll from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that Kemp led Ossoff by 3.3 points (49% to 45.7%), Ossoff led three other prospective challengers. That poll surveyed 1,426 respondents from April 24 to April 27, 2025, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. Hatcher said the state Republicans face a "limited" bench to challenge Ossoff, but whoever prevails will eventually have to defend Trump's "unpopular economic policies that will most likely adversely affect states like Georgia, particularly his recent commentary on leveling tariffs on the film industry – a industry that has a significant presence in Georgia." May 06 - Newsweek The race is obviously already on for the mid-term elections in November of 2026, and if you're a journalist looking to cover Georgia politics, let us help. William Hatcher, PhD, is available to speak with media - simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
Most companies around the world have a leader, whether that title is a President, CEO, or Founder. There’s almost always someone at the very top of a corporate food chain, and from that position down, the company is structured hierarchically, with multiple levels of leadership supervising other employees. It’s a structure with which most people in the working world are familiar, and it dates back as long as one can remember. The word itself—leader—dates back to as far as the 12th Century and is derived from the Old English word “laedere,” or one who leads. But in 2001, a group of software engineers developed the Agile Workflow Methodology, a project development process that puts a priority on egalitarian teamwork and individual independence in searching for solutions. A number of businesses are trying to embrace a flatter internal structure, like the agile workflow. But is it necessarily the best way to develop business processes? That’s the question posed by researchers, including Goizueta Business School’s Özgecan Koçak, associate professor of organization and management, and fellow researchers Daniel A. Levinthal and Phanish Puranam in their recently published paper on organizational hierarchies. “Realistically, we don’t see a lot of non-hierarchical organizations,” says Koçak. “But there is actually a big push to have less hierarchy in organizations.” Part of it is due to the demotivating effects of working in authoritarian workplaces. People don’t necessarily like to have a boss. We place value in being more egalitarian, more participatory. Özgecan Koçak, Associate Professor of Organization & Management “So there is some push to try and design organizations with flatter hierarchies. That is specifically so in the context of knowledge-based work, and especially in the context of discovery and search.” Decoding Organizational Dynamics While the idea of an egalitarian workplace is attractive to many people, Koçak and her colleagues wanted to know if, or when, hierarchies were actually beneficial to the health of organizations. They developed a computational agent-based model, or simulation, to explore the relationships between structures of influence and organizational adaptation. The groups in the simulation mimicked real business team structures and consisted of two types of teams. In the first type, one agent had influence over the beliefs of rest of the team. For the second type, no one individual had any influence over the beliefs of the team. The hierarchical team vs. the flat structured team. “When you do simulations, you want to make sure that your findings are robust to those kinds of things like the scale of the group, or the how fast the agents are learning and so forth,” says Koçak. What’s innovative about this particular simulation is that all the agents are learning from their environment. They are learning through trial and error. They are trying out different alternatives and finding out their value. Özgecan Koçak Koçak is very clear that the hierarchies in the simulation are not exactly like hierarchies in a business organization. Every agent was purposefully made to be the same without any difference in wisdom or knowledge. “It’s really nothing like the kinds of hierarchies you would see in organizations where there is somebody who has a corner office, or somebody who is has a management title, or somebody’s making more than the others. In the simulation, it’s nothing to do with those distributional aspects or control, and nobody has the ability to control what others do in (the simulation). All control comes through influence of beliefs.” Speed vs. Optimal Solutions What they found in the simulation was that while both teams solved the same problems presented to them, they achieved different results at different speeds. We find that hierarchical teams don’t necessarily find the best solution, but they find the good enough solution in the shorter term. So if you are looking at the really long term, crowds do better. The crowds where individuals are all learning separately, they find the best solution in the long run, even though they are not learning from each other. Özgecan Koçak Özgecan Koçak (pronounced as ohz-gay-john ko-chuck) is associate professor of Organization & Management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. She holds a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. For example, teams of scientists looking for cures or innovative treatments for diseases work best with a flat structure. Each individual works on their own timeline, with their own search methodologies. The team only comes together for status updates or to discuss their projects without necessarily getting influence or direction from colleagues. The long-term success of the result is more important in some cases than the speed at which they arrive to their conclusion. That won’t work for an organization that answers to a board of directors or shareholders. Such parties want to see rapid results that will quickly impact the bottom line of the company. This is why the agile methodology is not beneficial to large-scale corporations. Koçak says, “When you try to think about an entire organization, not just teams, it gets more complicated. If you have many people in an organization, you can’t have everybody just be on the same team. And then you have to worry about how to coordinate the efforts of multiple teams. That’s the big question for scaling up agile. We know that the agile methodology works pretty well at the team level. However, when firms try to scale it up applied to the entire organization, then you have more coordination problems. Özgecan Koçak “You need some way to coordinate the efforts with multiple teams.” The Catch: Compensation Makes a Difference The simulation did not take into account one of the biggest parts of a corporate hierarchical structure—incentives and reward. The teams in the simulation received no monetary compensation for their leadership or influence. That is not something that happens in real life. Koçak says, “If you built up an organization with just influence, you just say we’re not going to have any authority, and we’re not going to give anybody the right to control anybody else’s actions. If we’re not going to be rewarding anyone more than the other, there’s not going to be any marks of status, etc. We’re just going to have some people influence others more. I would guess that would automatically lead to a prestige hierarchy right away. The person with more influence, you would start respecting more.” It’s almost like we’re incapable of working in a flat society, because somebody always wants to be or naturally becomes a leader and an influencer whether they planned on it or not. Özgecan Koçak The paper concludes that both methodologies, with either hierarchical and flat organization of teams, reach their goals. They just arrive at different times with different end results. If an organization has the luxury of time and money, a flat, agile methodology organization might be the right structure for that company. However, even agile workflow needs some coordination, according to Koçak. “There are also some search tasks that require coordination. You can’t always be searching on your own independently of others. There are some situations in which search needs to be done in a coordinated fashion by more than one person in teams. That’s because many of the knowledge-based settings where we do discovery require some division of labor, some specialization by expertise.” Communication is Key The key to any successful workflow, whether it be agile or hierarchical, is coordination and communication. Looking back to the example of scientific researchers, Koçak said, “You have scientific teams working independently of one another without a common boss dictating what they do research on or how they do it. Instead, they explore and experiment on their own. They write up their results, share their results, and learn from each other, because they are in the long-term game. The goal is to find the truth, however long it takes. “But when you look closely at a scientific team where everybody’s exploring, there is still some need for coordination. A lot of that happens through communication, and a lot of times projects will have a lead. Not necessarily somebody who knows better than the others, but somebody who’s going to help with coordination.” The leaner, flatter organizational structures in businesses might be gaining popularity. This simulation done by Koçak and colleagues, however, shows that it isn’t a perfect fit for every company, Further, some form of hierarchical workflow is necessary to maintain communication and coordination. Hierarchical structures don’t always find the best solution to a problem, but it’s almost always a good solution in a timelier fashion. Looking to know more? Özgecan Koçak is associate professor of Organization & Management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. She is available to speak with media about this topic - simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.
Today, on CAA’s National Slow Down, Move Over Day, the Government of Manitoba, the RCMP and CAA representatives came together at the Manitoba Legislature to remind motorists about the importance of Manitoba’s Slow Down, Move Over law (SDMO), a life-saving law designed to protect emergency responders and roadside workers. “We are pleased that the Manitoba government has proclaimed May 13th as Slow Down Move Over Day to help bring awareness to the laws designed to protect emergency responders, tow operators, and highway workers who are stopped on the side of the road to save lives on Manitoba roadways,” said Ewald Friesen, manager of government relations for CAA Manitoba. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Lisa Naylor stated, “Every day, workers risk their lives to keep our roads safe and we are asking Manitoba drivers to take one simple, life-saving action: slow down and move over.” The timing is especially important as Canada Road Safety Week begins on May 13, shining a broader spotlight on making Canadian roads safer for all. CAA has been the leading advocate in Canada to ensure that 'Slow Down, Move Over' laws include tow trucks, along with police, ambulance and fire. "Most drivers tend to slow down and move over for police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks, but this is lower for tow trucks. It's important to always remember that for many, the side of the road is someone's workplace, and everyone deserves a safe place to work. Slow Down, Move Over laws protect our roadside rescuers, and the stranded drivers we serve every day,” reinforced Friesen. CAA’s research shows that Manitobans care deeply about the safety of emergency vehicles, drivers and stranded motorists. Data also shows that 8 in ten CAA Members have heard of the Slow Down, Move Over law, and 99 per cent support it. Just over half, however, know the definition of the law, underscoring that there is still important work to do to help drivers understand exactly what the law requires a driver to do. Over 1/3 of members are not aware of specific penalties, though they do know a penalty exists and 4 in ten Manitobans aged 65 and above are unaware of any penalties. Sergeant Mark Hume, Unit Commander, North West Traffic Services, Manitoba RCMP highlighted, “Violators can be charged under Section 109.1(2) of the Highway Traffic Act ($298 fine) at a minimum. Aggravated circumstances can result in more severe charges.” The consequences of neglecting these laws can be tragic, not only for roadside workers but also for drivers and passengers. The hope is that this initiative will help remind drivers of the importance of safe driving behaviours and encourage everyone to do their part to keep Manitoba’s roads and highways safe. “Through education and awareness of ‘Slow Down, Move Over’ laws, we wish to support drivers in their crucial role in preventing incidents and fostering a culture of care and safety on Manitoba's highways,” continued Friesen. If you see an emergency vehicle or tow operator up ahead, reduce your speed and move to an open lane if it is safe to do so. If the posted speed limit is less than 80 km/h you are required to slow down to 40 km/h. If the posted speed limit is 80 km/h or higher you are required to slow down to 60 km/h. For more information about the Slow Down, Move Over law, visit: https://www.caamanitoba.com/advocacy/government-relations/slow-down The online survey was conducted by via an online quantitative survey with 916 CAA Members in Manitoba between February 3 and February 11, 2025. Based on the sample size of n=916 and with a confidence level of 95%, the margin of error for this research is +/- 3.24%.)
