Five professors join the faculty at Olin

Markus Baer comes to Olin wrapping up his doctoral work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ph.D. expected in fall 2006. He is originally from Germany where he earned a master’s degree in psychology at the University of Giessen. Baer joins Olin as an assistant professor of Organizational Behavior. His research interests focus on creativity and innovation in organizations considering a wide-range of determinants, such as personality, contextual forces and social relationships — including sibling relationships. He also has an interest in how firms deal with errors and has studied a particular approach to handling errors (i.e., error management) in companies across Europe.

Radhakrishnan (Radha) Gopalan, Ph.D., joins as assistant professor in finance at the Olin School of Business. Gopalan’s research focus is on issues surrounding corporate governance. His research includes work relating to emerging markets and family-owned firms within those markets. He has also studied why public firms choose to go private and how institutional investors in the U.S. influence governance. Gopalan’s Ph.D., is from the University of Michigan.

Todd A. Gormley, Ph.D., joins the Olin faculty as an assistant professor of finance. Gormley earned a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006 and wrote his dissertation on banking and corporate finance in developing countries. Gormley’s research interests focus on financial markets in poor and developing countries. Gormley was a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund in April 2005

Anne Marie Knott, Ph.D., is a known face around Simon Hall. Knott was a visiting assistant profess or entrepreneurship and management during the 2005-06 school year. She now joins the faculty as assistant professor of strategy. Knott earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1996. She was an assistant professor of management (part-time) at California State University, Northridge from 1993-95. Knott then went to the Wharton School, where she was an assistant professor of management from 1995-2004. Knott’s research examines the optimal environment and policies — economic, industrial and firm — for innovation. Her interest stems from earlier career experiences in defense electronics at Hughes Aircraft Company.

Ozge Turut, D.B.A., recently earned a doctorate from Harvard Business School, concentrating in marketing. Turut joins the Olin faculty as an assistant professor of marketing. Her work focuses on when firms go public with their innovations and when they chose to keep the innovation to themselves. She has also written about the role market research plays for firms in determining where to commit their R&D dollars: in innovation or imitation. Turut is from Turkey and earned an undergraduate degree from Bogazici University in Istanbul in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. She earned an M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University.