Research

Rating agencies in the capital markets — like Moody’s credit ratings — have dominated the investing landscape for decades.

Dipayan Biswas wants to know what you like. More to the point, he wants to know why you like it. The associate professor of marketing has studied people’s responses in sampling “experiential” products -- beverages, music, fragrances, and the like – which appeal directly to the senses.

His research into the factors that influence consumer preferences has turned up a surprise: A product’s impression on the taste buds or ear drums matters less than you would expect. More influential, perhaps, is the order in which products are sampled.

As a sociologist, Angela Garcia routinely fits together how and why people do things. What unfolds when someone calls 911? Takes part in a divorce mediation session? Visits an Internet chat room? Lately she has fixed on a real conundrum: process and motivation in the construction of jigsaw puzzles.

It’s a fair assumption that few geologists have vials of fake blood in their office. David Szymanski does. For the assistant professor of natural and applied sciences, the liquid is a necessary ingredient for teaching a course in forensic science.

TV shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation have helped make the class a popular choice among undergraduates.

Behind the scenes, in health-care organizations all across the country, thousands of physicians and allied health care providers are struggling with “compassion fatigue.”

This has been an eventful summer for all of us who care about the world. In June, we marked the 20^th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. In July, we recorded the hottest-ever month in the United States. In August and September, we listened to the two presidential candidates as they squared off on climate change in their respective convention speeches. And later in September, we learned that the drastic melting of the Arctic sea ice had set a new record, with ice covering just 24 percent of the surface of the Arctic Ocean.

Jeff Livingston would like to change the way that fellow economists see the world. His research challenges the “rational pursuit of self-interest” as the standard driver of market behavior. Where did he find evidence to back an alternative view that incorporates trust? On eBay.

If Mitt Romney is elected the next president of the United States in November, it will mark an epic milestone for his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), better known as the Mormon Church.

Anyone experiencing the current political climate might easily conclude that our system of governing is either severely dysfunctional, even broken.  

Globalization. It’s the buzzword of a generation, but what does the term really mean? Ask a Chinese economist, a South African cinematographer, an American cultural anthropologist, and a Mexican migrant worker, and each is likely to give a different definition.