Day: September 17, 2024

Giridhar Reddy Bojja, new College of Business assistant professor of information systems and analytics, brings academic expertise in management information systems, analytics, and computer science, as well as industry experience as a data scientist and engineer. His hire is part of a College of Business faculty hiring initiative that supports a new curricular emphasis on technology and business analytics.

Bojja comes to Michigan Tech from the University of Central Oklahoma – College of Business, where he was a visiting assistant professor of business analytics. His academic and industry background is well aligned with Michigan Tech’s tech-focused environment.

He cites several reasons for his interest in Michigan Tech, including the wide research opportunities, the entrepreneurial emphasis within the College of Business, and the AACSB accreditation of College of Business programs. He is also impressed that Michigan Tech is a Carnegie Institute-rated R2 university on the path to becoming an R1 institution.

Bojja’s research interests lie at the intersection of information systems and management science. In his health information technology research, he investigates IT capabilities and outcomes and design science research to build IT artifacts. In his data science research, he explores social network analysis and predictive analytics.

“Through a composite technology-enabled organizational excellence lens, my research addresses the optimization of technological resources and the effective appraisal of business leadership for optimal firm outcomes,” Bojja explains. “I am also particularly interested in building IT artifacts involving AI, machine learning, and blockchain for healthcare using a design science approach.”

Bojja started his career as a business intelligence developer at Sanford Health, where he was drawn to the vastness of the healthcare sector, which eventually became his primary research stream. He also worked as a data engineer at Johnson & Johnson and Sharecare and as an engineer for Amazon Business Upstream Analytics. 

This academic year, Bojja will teach IS/IT Management (MIS 2000), Information Systems, Management and Data Analytics (BA 5200), and Information Systems Projects (MIS 4100).

Bojja received his PhD from the College of Business and Information Systems at Dakota State University in 2022. His master’s degree is in analytics, and his bachelor’s is in Computer Science.

Learn more about Giridhar Reddy Bojja on his faculty profile.

The Michigan Tech College of Business prepares tomorrow’s business professionals through STEM-infused, AACSB-accredited degree programs and minors. The college’s bachelor of science programs are in accounting, business analytics, construction management, economics, engineering management, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing; master of science programs are in accounting and analytics, applied natural resource economics, engineering management, and the TechMBA®.

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The College of Business is pleased to welcome M. Steven Holloway, a new assistant teaching professor of economics.

When he started his PhD, Holloway already knew that he wanted to work for a mid-size state university, preferably in a community with robust outdoor recreational activities.

“Michigan Tech checked both those boxes and brought me closer to my original home of Iowa. When the opportunity arose to work here, it was an easy decision to make,” Holloway says.

Holloway’s primary research investigates intertemporal choice through a behavioral economics lens. He says his interest in the topic stems from his fascination with the human mind.

“I love developing models that attempt to approximate the complex processes our brains use to make decisions,” Holloway explains. “Intertemporal choice is a topic of interest in not only economics, but in psychology, sociology, ecology, and finance, among others, giving me opportunities to collaborate and learn from other disciplines,”

Holloway is also interested in questions related to inequality and the environment.

Holloway’s teaching philosophy is based in his desire for inclusion and equity in his field. He says that helping students find their passion is one of teaching’s biggest rewards.

“I feel very privileged to be able to impart knowledge to students, knowing that some lesson of mine may be the spark that shapes the path of someone’s academic and professional career,” Holloway says. “It’s an added bonus when I get to see that passion firsthand.”

“If students see their experiences reflected in the course and are challenged to think deeply about them, sustained engagement with the material comes naturally,” he says, adding that he engages and motivates his students with relevant and challenging learning materials.

Holloway aims to create economics lessons that are intellectually challenging while engaging a larger, more diverse set of students by relating content to lived experiences and societal issues.

“By doing so, I can share the insights of economic reasoning and research while also gaining insight into perspectives other than my own,” he says. “The knowledge flow from teacher to student, and vice versa, benefits both the science and pedagogy of economics.”

In a favorite research project, which led to the first two chapters of his PhD dissertation, Holloway and his co-authors designed an experiment to test whether their research subjects essentially followed “the rules” of current discounting models, or if a more general model that the researchers had developed matched their behavior better.

“It was an interesting and satisfying process to develop the experiment, which had no direct analogs in the literature, and to find results that suggest that some widely assumed features of human behavior may not always hold after all,” he says.

This year Holloway will teach Principles of Economics (EC 2001), Economic Decision Analysis (EC 3400), Mathematical Economics (EC 4100), and Market Failure and the Environment (EC 5650/4650).

Holloway earned a PhD and MS in Economics at the University of Oregon, and a BS in both Business Economics and Finance from Iowa State University.

“My favorite part of the area so far has to be the proximity to Lake Superior,” Holloway says. “Being able to walk along the Portage Canal every morning and visit the Lake Superior lakeshore any time I want to have been wonderful.”

Read more about Steven Holloway in his faculty profile.

The Michigan Tech College of Business prepares tomorrow’s business professionals through STEM-infused, AACSB-accredited degree programs and minors. The college’s bachelor of science programs are in accounting, business analytics, construction management, economics, engineering management, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing; master of science programs are in accounting and analytics, applied natural resource economics, engineering management, and the TechMBA®.

Follow the College of Business on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.