The Wharton Innovation Doctoral Symposium (WINDS) is the Wharton School’s student-run multi-disciplinary doctoral conference on innovation.
The rationale behind WINDS is that innovation, a central theme in business research and a fundamental driver in today’s economy, is by its very nature multi-disciplinary. However, as of today, there is no platform where doctoral students from different business-related disciplines — such as strategic management, organizational theory, finance, accounting, operations, marketing, economics, and other areas — can interact. WINDS intends to provide such a multi-disciplinary meeting point.
This event, now occurring annually in March, is organized by the Mack Innovation Doctoral Association and supported by the Mack Institute, the Wharton Doctoral Office, and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly of University of Pennsylvania.
If you have any questions, please email the organizing committee at windsteam@wharton.upenn.edu.
Eighth Annual Wharton Innovation Doctoral Symposium
Conference Dates: March 7 & 8, 2025
Application Deadline: Tuesday, December 24, 2024
This event will be held in person
Student Organizing Committee
Zorina Chen
Zorina Chen is a Ph.D. student in Management, studying careers and labor markets. She is particularly interested in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in hiring, as well as the connections between organizational design, strategic human capital, and firm performance outcomes such as innovation. Zorina earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, where she majored in Sociology and Political Science.
Ruben Ramirez Salas
Ruben is a 2nd year PhD student in Information Systems at The Wharton School. His research centers on artificial creativity and the role of AI judgment in applications within creative industries, with the goal of advancing insights into the economics of AI, including its implications for labor and organizational decision-making. He experiments with large language models (LLMs) to explore AI's broader impact on work and productivity. Previously, he completed a degree in Computer Science and an MBA.
Vishrut Rana
Vishrut is a third-year PhD student in Operations Management at The Wharton School. His research focuses on emerging topics in clean energy, with a particular interest in addressing how to best integrate new technologies in existing energy systems to mitigate the impacts of climate change. He studies the geographically varying impacts of clean energy investments to identify optimal development strategies and explores business model and technology innovations that improve developer returns. Prior to his doctoral studies, he worked at Tesla Energy and EDF Renewables and graduated from UC Berkeley with a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research.
Fernando Stein
Fernando is a second-year Ph.D. student in Finance, specializing in asset pricing and innovation. His research examines how financial markets respond to innovation, particularly around the announcement and release of new products. Before starting his doctoral studies, Fernando worked at Bank of America, focusing on FX and fixed income strategy in emerging markets. He earned both a bachelor's degree in Economics and Applied Mathematics and a master's degree in Economic Theory from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).
Vinay Subramanian
Vinay is a 3rd year doctoral student in Management. His research interests are in entrepreneurial strategy, venture capital and innovation. Prior to academia, Vinay was a Managing Director at multiple PE and VC funds, investment banker at Goldman Sachs NY, led M&A at Flipkart and held board roles at unicorn startups. Vinay has degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan).
Ndubuisi (Richard) Ugwuanyi
Richard is a doctoral student in management and specializes in entrepreneurship, technological innovation, and strategy. His current work examines how resources shape entrepreneurial experimentation, an important cornerstone of innovation-driven enterprises. His work relies on large archival datasets, applied econometrics and deep learning - especially large language models - to generate behavioral insights about startups. Prior to academia, he worked in the cosmetics development and manufacturing industry and at the National Research Council, both in Canada. He received his BSc in Industrial Chemistry (specialization in Industrial Chemical Technology), MASc in Chemical Engineering and MS in Management (Strategy, Entrepreneurship & Innovation).