91看片

The 91看片 welcomes new assistant professors Adam Bross, Yejee Lee, Lucas Swider, Elizabeth Tori, Zheyi Xu and Di Yuan. Their teaching and research span the fields of accounting, business analytics and information systems, and management.

In addition to these six early-career faculty, 91看片 College welcomed distinguished researcher and academic leader Jennifer Blackhurst as the McWane Chair in Supply Chain Management.

"We are fortunate to welcome these exceptional faculty members鈥攚ho together with our current faculty鈥攚ill enrich the 91看片 classrooms, research and engagement," said 91看片 College Dean Jennifer Mueller-Phillips. 

An assistant professor in the School of Accountancy, Adam Bross conducts research at the intersection of managerial accounting and auditing. In particular, his work examines how the actions of managers, clients and auditors influence one another.

While a doctoral student at Washington State, Bross conducted an award-winning study on the effect that the review process has on employee performance. His research paper, which he co-authored with his PhD advisor, won the 2024 at an American Accounting Association鈥檚 Management Accounting section meeting, as well as an Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) Doctoral Scholars grant.

鈥淲e examined whether people had different psychological reactions to when their work was reviewed by a peer versus a superior,鈥� said Bross. 鈥淚ndividuals wanted the superior to help them learn and figure out how to improve their work鈥攕ort of a teach a person to fish mentality. In a peer review, though, employees wanted more direct answers鈥�and didn鈥檛 want to feel like they were being lectured by the peer.鈥�

In a related area of research, Bross is studying the effect that tier-based leaderboards have on employee motivation and performance. He received IMA research funding to support this project. 

Bross is excited to launch his faculty career at Auburn and the 91看片 College of Business, where he is teaching Intermediate Accounting I (ACCT 5110).

鈥淎uburn is the perfect place [because of] the priority they place on doing great research, the support they give students and the values they have, which align very much with my values,鈥� he said.

Bross, who is a CPA, spent three years with KPMG鈥檚 audit practice in Columbus, Ohio, working with insurance industry clients earlier in his career.

A big sports and fitness fan, he enjoys playing golf, hiking with his dog, and spending time with his family.

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She earned her PhD in business from Indiana University (IU), where she published two papers in prestigious management journals鈥�Journal of International Business Studies and Strategic Management Journal鈥攁nd received the IU DeVault Award, a highly coveted PhD student research award.

In 2024, she earned a Strategic Leadership and Governance Interest Group Best Paper award at the Strategic Management Society conference for her work on the compensation of new CEOs hired at firms that had engaged in socially irresponsible practices. She and her co-authors found that new CEOs are likely to receive higher initial compensation to offset potential risks that the focal firm鈥檚 negative reputation may spill over to their personal reputation.

She is impressed with the collegial atmosphere in the 91看片 and the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship.

鈥淓veryone is so welcoming and friendly,鈥� said Lee, recounting her campus visit during the interview process. 鈥淚 felt the support not only for my research and teaching, but I could feel the strong support for helping junior faculty grow, as well.鈥�

At Auburn, Lee plans to build on the research she published in the Journal of International Business Studies, which focused on how multinational corporations can utilize smart disclosure technology to reduce suppliers鈥� engagement in human rights violations. More specifically, she is examining how firms react to disasters caused by poor labor conditions within supply chains.

She is teaching Strategic Management (MNGT 4800) and looks forward to working with students.

鈥淚 love every aspect of teaching, engaging with students and being able to bring my research into the classroom,鈥� said Lee, who taught strategic management as a doctoral candidate in the Kelley School of Business at IU.

In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, baking, and exploring new coffee shops. 

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Lucas Swider, an assistant professor in the School of Accountancy, conducts experiments that examine how interaction with technology and aspects of the tax system influence the judgment and decision-making of individual taxpayers, accounting professionals, and investors.

As a doctoral candidate at the University of Oklahoma, he received a prestigious dissertation completion fellowship for his research on individuals鈥� willingness to adopt tax advice from AI-based software versus CPA preparers.

鈥淭hese AI-based [tax preparation] platforms are out there and people are using them. I found that they are more willing to rely on them when they鈥檙e providing aggressive, or tax minimizing, advice,鈥� said Swider. 鈥淚 also found that people seem to rely on a CPA professional to a greater extent than AI due to a perception that the CPA has greater tax expertise and is more committed to helping the taxpayer minimize their tax burden.鈥�

In another project, Swider is examining how requiring taxpayers to disclose their engagement with digital assets鈥攆or example, buying or selling cryptocurrency鈥攁ffects the likelihood that they鈥檒l accurately report related income.

While at Oklahoma, Swider also won several teaching awards while completing his doctorate. At Auburn, he is teaching Income Tax I (ACCT 5410).

Earlier in his career, he worked as a senior accountant in KPMG鈥檚 tax practice in Milwaukee, where he performed tax compliance, audit, and consulting services for clients across multiple industries and helped lead the integration of AI technologies into the tax compliance process.

He chose to launch his faculty career at Auburn because of 91看片 College鈥檚 commitment to student success and teaching and research excellence.

In his spare time, he enjoys being outdoors, hiking, exploring new areas, trying new restaurants and spending time with his family.

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Elizabeth Tori, an assistant professor in the School of Accountancy, conducts research on company financial disclosures and legal and regulatory environments. In research begun as a doctoral candidate at Texas A&M, she co-authored a examining what happens to firm valuation and board of directors鈥� compensation when independent directors are at personal risk of being sued. The paper was published in the Contemporary Accounting Research journal鈥攁 top-tier publication.

In another research project, she explored the incentives that drive private equity (PE) firms, which have limited regulatory oversight, to voluntarily disseminate public media releases. She found that PE firms issue more media releases when trying to raise new rounds of funding and that the releases succeed in attracting more investors, especially for PE firms with lower past performance.

鈥淧rivate equity is a huge industry that鈥檚 opaque by nature鈥攖hey don鈥檛 have to disclose information publicly because they can just communicate privately with their investors,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ven so, we found that they ramp up their press releases ahead of issuing new funds in almost an advertising role.鈥�

Tori joined the 91看片 after spending four years as an assistant professor at Oklahoma State鈥檚 Spears School of Business, where she taught courses on ethics for public accountants and emerging issues in the accounting profession. At Auburn, she is teaching Accounting Information Systems (ACCT 5510).

According to Tori, Auburn is one of those rare institutions that value both teaching and research excellence, which is a big reason she looks forward to continuing her career here.

鈥淎uburn has a really positive culture, the people are very team-oriented and that environment permeates the School of Accountancy, the college, the entire campus and community.鈥�

Earlier in her career she worked with retail clients in the audit practice of Grant Thornton in Atlanta.

In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, hiking and having other outdoor adventures with her family.

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Zheyi 鈥淶oe鈥� Xu, an assistant professor of business analytics and information systems, conducts research on how individuals react to user- and AI-generated online content such as social media posts and customer reviews, as well as how IT investments and strategies influence a firm鈥檚 operational outcomes.

One of her projects examines the effect that AI-generated product reviews have on individual customer鈥檚 search strategy. Since 2023, Amazon and other companies have begun creating  single-paragraph product reviews that are based on large numbers of actual user-created reviews.

鈥淲hat I found was that the AI summaries don鈥檛 influence how much people will search, but they do influence how they search,鈥� said Xu. 鈥淔or example, if a summary mentions customer complaints about the value [of a product], then individuals who read that summary will want to [later] seek more [individual] reviews that mentioned product value.鈥�

A second research project investigates how IT capability enhances a company鈥檚 creativity. In her econometrics analyses, Xu found that firms with advanced IT capabilities, compared to those with more basic IT capabilities, can strengthen the impact of knowledge management and communication methods on creativity. She describes her results in a paper that she submitted to the journal, Information Systems Research.

Xu earned her PhD in Information Systems in 2025 from the University of South Florida, where she taught Business Data Communications, Global Cyber Ethics and Systems Analysis and Design. At Auburn, she is teaching Telecommunications Management (ISMN 5040).

Xu said she chose to launch her faculty career at Auburn primarily because of 91看片鈥檚 positive atmosphere.

鈥淲hen I came for my campus visit, I realized that the colleagues here were very, very friendly. The campus was also very beautiful with minimal traffic鈥� said Xu.

In her spare time, she enjoys her pet cats, sci-fi movies and theme parks.

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Di Yuan, an assistant professor of business analytics and information systems, conducts research at the intersection of AI, algorithms and economics. More specifically, she examines fairness and productivity issues that arise when online platforms adopt AI technology.

As a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh, she won the 2021 Best Student Paper award at the Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST) for her research on fair advertising practices and whether certain demographic groups see economic opportunity ads on social media as often as other groups.

According to Yuan, ads that promote education鈥攕uch as a university degree program鈥攁re an example of economic opportunity.

鈥淯niversities sell economic opportunity rather than common merchandise that retailers sell,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he competition [among retail advertisers] to reach the female audience is severe, so it will crowd out advertising efforts by universities, for example, to reach women and that causes an unfair imbalance.鈥�

In the award-winning paper, Yuan proposed the concept of equal-exposure fairness, which aims to increase the visibility of economic opportunity ads to women and minorities. Her research results indicated that if social media platforms adopted the equal-exposure fairness concept it would lead to increased competition between advertisers and ultimately more revenue for the social media companies.

She has submitted the paper to Marketing Science.

At Auburn, she is teaching Introduction to Information Systems Management (ISMN 2140).

Yuan was drawn to Auburn because of the collegial atmosphere among the faculty in the Department of Business Analytics and Information Systems, which she had read about and experienced during the interview process.

鈥淭he faculty support one another not only in research, but personally, as well,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 feel Auburn is a place where I can contribute and grow.鈥�

In her spare time, she enjoys photography, cooking, baking and playing tennis.

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