I’m a 5th year PhD candidate in the Department of Decision, Operations & Information Technologies (DOIT) within the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. I extensively use Python, Stata, R and MATLAB along with modern data/text mining tools, deep learning techniques and econometrics to address empirical questions on

1. Tackling excessive screening on online sharing platforms such as Airbnb.
2. Tackling “over-seeking” sensitive user information on mobile platforms such as Android.
3. Enabling interactions between content providers and viewers on Smart TVs.
4. Studying the economic impact of institutional forms such as Seed Accelerators.

Research Focus: Platform Self Regulation, Information Privacy, Mechanism Designs, Asymmetric Information

Methodology: Econometrics, ML (Deep Learning), Textual Analysis, Field Experiments

My dissertation research investigates the impact of platform policy changes that reduce the imbalance between different sides of an online platform. My dissertation has gained immensely from my interactions with my committee which includes Prof. Siva Viswanathan (chair of the committee), Prof. Peng Huang, Prof. Rajshree Agarwal, Prof. Gordon Gao and Prof. Anna Alberini.

You can find my CV Summary here and Full CV here

The following are 4 of the research papers that highlight my current research interests and industry collaborations. Please refer to my curriculum vitae for a list of all my working papers.

Media Coverage for my Android Privacy Policy Paper : ZDNet , International Business Times , Smith Brain Trust , Maryland Today

Media Coverage for my Startup Accelerator Paper : Snider Focus

Who Forgoes Screening in Online Markets and When? Evidence from Airbnb

Status: Invited for revision at MIS Quarterly (Joint work with Siva Viswanathan, Rajshree Agarwal and Shun Ye) An investigation of Airbnb’s mechanism design (Instant Booking) that mitigates information asymmetry and improves outcomes for a (deserving) sub-section of population ...
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Delaying Informed Consent: An Empirical Investigation of Mobile Apps’ Upgrade Decisions

Status: Under review at Management Science (Joint work with Siva Viswanathan) Android’s Information Privacy Policy enactment, strategic delaying of privacy policy adoption by some apps and impact of such strategic behavior on apps’ outcomes on Android Play Store ...
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Seed Accelerators and Information Asymmetries: Evidence from Corporate Venture Capital Investments

Status: Invited for re-submission at Management Science (Joint work with Peng Huang) A comprehensive study of how seed accelerators help investors in addressing the assessment and valuation problem of startups and aiding them in achieving their investment goals ...
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Impact of Real-Time Informational Interventions in Broadcast Media

Status: Experiment Design Complete. Deployment in October (Joint work with Siva Viswanathan) A large-scale randomized field experiment to improve the efficacy of Broadcast content consumption on Smart-TV by leveraging multi-screen connectivity to smart devices such as smart phones ...
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During my two terms as an instructor in Database Systems (with lab) at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, I have also covered basics of Data Mining, Data Visualization and Frontiers of Data Science. I’m thrilled to have received Distinguished Teaching Award in my first attempt at teaching.

Database Systems (BMGT402) – Spring 2018 (38 students, IS/Business Analytics Major)
• Teaching Evaluation: 4.72/5.00
• Recipient, Distinguished Teaching Award 2017-2018 (Top 10% among all Faculty & Student instructors)

Database Systems (BMGT402) – Fall 2018 (38 students, IS/Business Analytics Major)
• Teaching Evaluation: 4.87/5.00

Here are some of the Awards and Grants that I have received during my Ph.D. journey

2019

• Allan N. Nash Outstanding Doctoral Student Award – One of the most prestigious awards for a doctoral student at R.H. Smith School of Business
• Distinguished Teaching Award AY 2017-2018 (Top 10% among all Smith School instructors)
• Nancy S. and Edward F. Ebert Graduate Award in Free Enterprise by Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets
• Best Paper Proceedings, Entrepreneurship Track – AOM Annual Meeting
• Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award, Graduate School at UMD
• NSF Student Travel Grant – to present at WEIS 2019 (Harvard, Cambridge)
• OCIS Travel Grant – to participate at OCIS Doctoral Consortium at AOM 2019
• International Conference Student Support Award – to present at WISE 2019 (LMU, Munich)
• Jacob K. Goldhaber Travel Grant – to present at SCECR 2019 (CUHK, Hong Kong)

2018

• Computation Grant for Big Data Research by the Ed Snider Center
• Summer Research Fellowship by UMD Graduate School ($5000)
• Financial Aid to complete 5-course specialization in Deep Learning by Deeplearning.ai
• Travel Grant – To participate in Wharton Innovation Doctoral Symposium (WINDS 2018)

2017

• Research Grant by the Ed Snider Center

2016

• Research Grant by the DIGITS Center
• Dean’s Fellowship, Spring 2016

2015

• Dean’s Fellowship, Fall 2015

I have been a passionate quizzer (trivia master) and have gained immensely from the quizzing community. I ventured into writing Quiz books as an attempt to contribute back to the community that nurtured me.

Book 1: Blitz the IT Quiz Book: I wrote this book during my freshman year at college (over a decade ago). Sapna Book House, a reputed publisher from Karnataka, India published this book during my sophomore year. Currently, the 6th (2018) edition is in circulation

Book 2: Kryptonite the IT Quiz book: This book was published in 2011, just before I started my MBA. The 2nd edition is currently in circulation and the 3rd edition is in the pipeline.

Read more about my books here

Prior to/Along with pursuing my academic research, I have dabbled with and have developed a few alternative passions.

Trivia/Quizzing

Volunteering

Re-engineering/Tinkering