Michelle Andrews, PhD ’15, graduated with a concentration in marketing and was an integral part of the research community during her time here at the Fox School of Business. She worked alongside her faculty mentor and dissertation chair, Dr. Xueming Luo of the Marketing department, in the Global Center for Big Data and Mobile Analytics, where she developed not only her research skills, but an interest in mobile ad effectiveness.

“Mobile phones are like our remote controls to everyday life,” said Andrews. “Investigating how people connect with others, consume content and connect with marketers on their mobile phones intrigues me.” This led her to co-author a paper with Dr. Luo titled, “Using Mobile Technology to Crowdsense,” which won the Best Conference Paper Award at the 2014 American Marketing Association Summer Educator Conference. Together they discovered that people may be more responsive to mobile ads when in crowded situations, such as public transit commutes.

Andrews believes that the research expertise she gained through her courses and the faculty at Fox helped prepare her for her current position at Emory as well as for future success in her field. “Fox was instrumental in providing knowledgeable faculty to help train me and my fellow colleagues, inviting guest speakers to come talk about their cutting-edge research with us and funding travel to top conferences to present my work and interact with scholars in the community,” said Andrews.