Best Dissertation Proposal Competition

2023 Winner(s)

Winning material: The Role of Data in the Search for Innovation: Essays on Big Data Genomics

Purpose of the Award

This competition is one of the most prestigious available to doctoral students studying organizations. Eight finalists will be chosen, based on reviews by experienced referees. Finalists will present their dissertation proposals in a workshop on at the INFORMS Annual Meeting During the workshop, finalists will receive detailed feedback from a panel of respected organizational scholars who act as final judges for the competition. The all-day workshop also provides a wonderful opportunity to interact with a small group of future colleagues. At the workshop, the judges will select a winner and a runner-up. 

Application Process

View information about eligibility, procedures and deadlines
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Past Awardees

2023 Winner(s)
Matteo Tranchero , UC Berkeley
2023 Finalist
Daphné Baldassari , University of Toronto Solomiya Draga , University of Toronto Dilan Eren , Boston University James Mellody , Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jean Oh , Columbia Business School Eileen Suh , Boston University
2023 Runner-Up
Chelsea Lide, Stanford University
2022 Winner(s)
Michael Park, University of Minnesota
2022 Finalist
Sarah Gordon, University of Michigan
Siyin Chen, University of Toronto
Ekin Ilseven, INSEAD
Amisha Miller, Boston University
Sukhun Kang, London Business School
William Reuben Hurst, University of Michigan
2022 Runner-Up
Shirley Tang, Washington University in St Louis
2021 Winner(s)
Rebecca Ponce De Leon, Duke University
2021 Finalist
Giselle Antoine, University of Washington Farnaz Ghaedipour, McMaster University Melanie Prengler, Texas A&M University Kimberly Rocheville, Boston College Bryan Spencer, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management
2021 Runner-Up
Anna McKean, Northwestern University Daniel Wilde, University of Pennsylvania
2020 Winner(s)
Summer Jackson, MIT Sloan School of Management
2020 Finalist
Yu Tse Heng, University of Washington, Foster School of Business
Audrey Holm, Boston University, Questrom School of Business
Jiwon Hwang, Columbia University, Columbia Business School
Rebecca Karp, Boston University, Questrom School of Business
Seojin Kim, University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business
Karren Knowlton, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School
Gauri Subramani, University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business
Audrey Holm, Boston University, Questrom School of Business
2020 Runner-Up
Yu Tse Heng, University of Washington, Foster School of Business
2019 Winner(s)
Saerom Lee, University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
2019 Finalist
Brittany Bond, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management
 Hugh Xiaolong Wu, Stanford University, Stanford Graduate School of Business
 Hannah Weisman, London School of Economics and Political Science
 Hyeun Lee, University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business
 Travis Howell, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler Business School
Anjier Chen
2019 Runner-Up
Angelica Leigh, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler Business School
2018 First Place
Basima Tewfik, Wharton School
2018 Second Place
Hyo Kang, Haas School of Busines
Rebecca Paluch, Cornell University
2018 Finalist
John Eklund, Wharton School
Stefan Dimitriadis, Harvard Business School
Britta Glennon, Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy
Trey Cummings, Olin School of Business
Michael Lee, Harvard Business School
2017 Winner(s)
Pedro Aceves, University of Chicago, Sociology
2017 Runner-Up
Evelyn Zhang, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper Business School
2016 Winner(s)
Tristan Botelho, MIT, Sloan School of Management
2016 Finalist
David Clough, INSEAD
Priyanka Dwivedi, Pennsylvania State University
Sora Jun, Stanford University
Michael Mauskapf, Northwestern University
Yongzhi Wang, University of Southern California
Sarah Wittman, INSEAD
2016 Runner-Up
Jeffrey Thomas, New York University
2015 Winner(s)
Julia DiBenigno, MIT, Sloan School of Management
2015 Finalist
Pooria Assadi, Simon Fraser University Feng Bai, University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business Santiago Campero, MIT, Sloan School of Business Jillian Chown, Toronto, Rotman School of Management Tiffany Johnson, Penn State, Smeal College of Business Derek Harmon, University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business Amer Madi, INSEAD François Neville, Georgia State, Robinson College of Business
2014 First Place
Mabel Abraham, MIT, Sloan School of Management
2014 Finalist
Abhinav Gupta, Pennsylvania State University Matthew Karlesky, University of Michigan McKenzie Rees, University of Utah Jacqueline Kirtley, Boston University Douglas Lepisto, Boston College Eunhee Sohn, MIT
2014 Runner-Up
Trevor Young-Hyman, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2013 First Place
Sujin Jang, Harvard Business School
2013 Finalist
Jin-Hyun Bae, New York University Brad Fulton, Duke University Heeyon Kim, University of Michigan KiYoung Lee, University of Minnesota Matthew Lee, Harvard Business School Jean-Nicolas Reyt, Paris Dauphine University/New York University
2013 Runner-Up
Chad Murphy, Pennsylvania State University
2012 First Place
Melissa A. Valentine, Harvard University
2012 Finalist
Sean R. Martin, Cornell University Mary-Hunter McDonnell, Northwestern University Jay O’Toole, University of Wisconsin Ryan L. Raffaelli, Boston College Elizabeth D. Rouse, Boston College Andrew K. Schnackenberg, Case Western Reserve University Melissa A. Valentine, Harvard University Shellwyn L. Weston, New York University
2011 First Place
Jessica Kennedy, University of California, Berkeley
2011 Second Place
Erin Scott, Washington University in St. Louis
2011 Finalist
Michael Bikard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Andreea Gorbatai, Harvard University
Shoko Kato, Syracuse University
Kenji Klein, University of California, Irvine
Daniel Smith, Georgia Institute of Technology
Jeffrey Treem, Northwestern University
2010 First Place
Jennifer Petriglieri, INSEAD
2010 Second Place
Mary Kate Stimmler, University of California, Berkeley
2010 Finalist
Adam Cobb, University of Michigan
Flannery Garnett, University of Michigan
Amol Joshi, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Tomasz Obloj, INSEAD
Erin Reid, Harvard Business School
Adina Sterling, Emory University
2009 First Place
Renee Rottner, University of California-Irvine
2009 Second Place
Jason Greenberg, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2009 Finalist
N. Andrew Cohen, University of Pennsylvania
Shon Hiatt, Cornell University
Ana Elisa Iglesias, Georgia State University
Shimul Melwani, University of Pennsylvania
Otilia Obodaru, INSEAD
Lori Qingyuan Yue, Columbia University
2008 First Place
H. Colleen Stuart, University of Toronto
2008 Second Place
Marlys K. Christianson, University of Michigan
2008 Finalist
Catherine Anderson, University of Maryland
Colin Fisher, Harvard University
Spencer Harrison, Arizona State University
Benjamin Herndon, University of Texas - Austin
Justin I. Miller, NYU - Stern
Rachael Leah Shwom, Michigan State
2007 First Place
Heidi Gardner, London Business School
2007 Second Place
J.P. Eggers, University of Pennsylvania
2007 Finalist
Marla Baskerville, Tulane University
Y. Sekou Bermiss, Northwestern University
Denisa Mindruta, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Christopher Rider, University of California at Berkeley
Mario Schijven, Tilburg University
Karl Wennberg, Stockholm School of Economics
2006 First Place
Celia Moore, University of Toronto
2006 Second Place
Michael Ashworth, Carnegie-Mellon University
2006 Finalist
Benjamin Cole, University of Michigan
Laura Erskine, University of Southern California
Yan Gong, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ben Hallen, Stanford University
Mike Pfarrer, University of Maryland
Brian Wu, University of Pennsylvania
2005 First Place
Susan Perkins, New York University
2005 Second Place
Sharon James Wade, University of Minnesota
Donald A. Lange, University of Texas at Austin
2005 Finalist
Jared D. Harris, University of Minnesota
Arik Lifschitz, Columbia University
Ilya Okhmatovskiy, University of Southern California
Ming Piao, Northwestern University
Kim-Chi Wakefield Trinh, Duke University
2004 First Place
Micki Eisenman, Columbia University
Kate Kellogg, Sloan School of Management, MIT
2004 Second Place
Govert Vroom, INSEAD
2004 Finalist
Michel Anteby, Stern School of Business, New York University
Scott Johnson, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota
June-Young Kim, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Christopher Marquis, University of Michigan
Thomas Moliterno, University of California, Irvine
2003 First Place
Minyuan Zhao, New York University
2003 Second Place
Gina Dokko, University of Pennsylvania
2003 Finalist
Gino Cattani, University of Pennsylvania
Mary Dunn, Boston College
Sarah Kaplan, MIT
Taco H. Reus, Florida State University
Nina Shah, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Andrew V. Shipilov, University of Toronto
Tim Simcoe, University of California, Berkeley
2002 First Place
Anne Parmigiani, University of Michigan
2002 Second Place
Myeong-Gu Seo, Boston College
2002 Finalist
Ben Bryant, London Business School
Dania A. Dialdin, Northwestern University
Seok-Woo Kwon, University of Southern California
Klaus Weber, University of Michigan
Beiging (Emery) Yao, University of Pittsburgh
Sai Yayavaram, University of Texas - Austin
2001 First Place
Ann Terlaak, University of California - Santa Barbara
2001 Second Place
Alexandra Kalev, Princeton University Robert Salomon, NYU
2001 Finalist
Michael DeVaughn Patrick L. Schultz Charles Williams Samina Z. Karim Karen Page
2000 First Place
Daniel Byrd, University of Michigan
2000 Second Place
Phanish Puranum, Wharton Markus Vodesek, University of Michigan
1999 First Place
Jay Kim, University of Wisconsin
1999 Second Place
Riitta Katila, University of Texas
Galit Ailon-Souday, Tel Aviv University
1998 First Place
Lydia Bigelow, University of California-Berkeley
1998 Second Place
Andreas Schwab, University of Wisconsin
Shawn Marie Lofstrom, University of Minnesota
1998 Finalist
Joseph Broschak, University of Texas at Austin Charles Dhanaraj, University of Western Ontario Michael Lenox, MIT Marvin Washington, Northwestern University Mary Zellmer-Bruhn, University of Wisconsin
1997 First Place
Timothy Pollock, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
1997 Second Place
Deborah Balser, Cornell University Pek-Hooi Soh, MIT
1996 First Place
Nancy Staudenmayer, MIT
1996 Second Place
Constance James, UCLA
1995 First Place
Gautam Ahuja, University of Michigan
1995 Second Place
Anne Cummings, University of Illinois Tammy Madsen, UCLA
1994 First Place
Mary Tripsas, MIT
1994 Second Place
Anne Marie Knott, UCLA
1993 First Place
Eric Darr, Carnegie Mellon University
1993 Second Place
Tina Diekmann, Northwestern University
1992 First Place
Mark Suchman, Stanford University
1992 Second Place
Jeff Dyer, UCLA
1991 First Place
Pam Haunschild, Carnegie Mellon University
1991 Second Place
Brian Uzzi, SUNY Stonybrook and Northwestern University