KNOWLEDGE

Anton Korinek is a Professor in the UVA Department of Economics and Darden School of Business, as well as the Faculty Director of the Economics of Transformative AI (EconTAI) Initiative. He was named to the 2025 TIME100 AI list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence. He is a Visiting Scholar at the Brookings Institution, a Research Associate at the NBER, and a Research Fellow at the CEPR, and serves on Anthropic's Economic Advisory Council. Anton received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2007 after several years of work experience in the IT and financial sectors.

Jingjing Li is the Andersen Alumni Associate Professor of IT and Innovation at the McIntire School of Commerce, and the Academic Director of the M.S. in Business Analytics Program, which is jointly offered by the McIntire School and the Darden School of Business. Jingjing's research focuses on the design, development, and management of artificial intelligence and data analytics systems, with applications in healthcare, marketing, platforms, and public policy and appears in myriad prestigious journals. Before joining academia, she was a scientist at Microsoft, where she built large-scale machine learning/AI solutions for core products and services.

Chris Maurer has extensive experience in various cybersecurity-related fields, including risk management, vulnerability assessment, security awareness and training, business continuity planning, and IT governance. His research has appeared in MIS Quarterly; European Journal of Information Systems; and MIS Quarterly Executive and has been presented at leading international IS conferences. He is also a member of the Society of Information Management IT Trends Study research team. Prior to earning his Ph.D., Chris worked for KPMG as an IT Auditor and as the Director of Security and Controls for TRX Inc.

Reza Mousavi is an expert at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and business. His work centers on the inner workings, applications, and societal impacts of AI, including large language models (LLMs), natural language processing (NLP), and deep learning. Reza's research has been published in premier journals, including Information Systems Research; Journal of Management Information Systems; Journal of the Association for Information Systems; and Journal of Marketing. His scholarly focus is grounded in real-world experience. Prior to his academic career, he served as Lead Data Scientist at State Farm Insurance Co. and advised leading consulting firms on AI initiatives.

Ryan Nelson is active in the undergraduate, graduate, and executive education programs at the McIntire School of Commerce. He serves as the Director of the Center for the Management of Information Technology, a position he has held since the founding of CMIT in 1991. During his tenure at McIntire, he has served as Associate Dean of the Undergraduate Program, Information Technology Area Coordinator, and Director of the M.S. in MIT Program. Ryan has published articles and cases on project management, product management, and IT adoption in a variety of academic and professional journals, including MIS Quarterly; Harvard Business Review; MIS Quarterly Executive; Journal of Management Information Systems; and many more. 

Chris Porter is a cybersecurity leader at Fannie Mae, where he is responsible for advancing and innovating the organization’s defense and response capabilities while promoting enterprise-wide awareness of information security. He brings over 15 years of experience across the IT and security landscape, including roles as an economist, system administrator, consultant, and researcher. Previously, he was a lead analyst at Verizon and a key author of the Data Breach Investigations Report, and co-creator of the VERIS Framework for standardizing security incident reporting. 

Since 1994, Dr. Barbara Wixom’s research has explored how organizations generate business value from data assets. Her methods include large-scale surveys, meta-analyses, lab experiments and in-depth case studies; five of her cases have placed in the Society for Information Management Paper Awards competition. Barb is a leading academic scholar, publishing in such journals as Information Systems Research; MIT Sloan Management Review; MIS Quarterly; and MIS Quarterly Executive. She regularly presents her work to academic and business audiences around the world.

Ryan Wright is Co-Director of AI Research @ UVA and Special Advisor to the Provost on AI Research at the University of Virginia, in addition to Professor of Commerce. He previously served as Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty and Research, and Area Coordinator for IT & Innovation, all at the McIntire School. In his current roles, Ryan leads University-wide strategic initiatives in artificial intelligence research and academics, oversees collaborative AI efforts across disciplines, and advises on the advancement of AI strategy and governance at UVA. He also serves as Associate Director for CMIT.

Luke is a first-year student in UVA's School of Engineering & Applied Science and co-founder of CorridorIQ, a migration intelligence platform for real estate professionals. At HooHacks 2026, Luke and teammate Zave built “Council,” an agent harness that reduces model sycophancy. He is from Seattle, where he played football and lacrosse in high school, and is interested in AI infrastructure and systems.

Pierce is a second-year student at the McIntire School of Commerce. He presented his winning concept from CMIT’s GenAI for the Common Good competition at the 2025 Knowledge ∞ Continuum. Since then, he has earned first place at MIT, Yale, and UVA’s flagship hackathons and served on the organizing committee for CMIT’s Claude for Good Hackathon in November. He is a teaching and research assistant at McIntire and conducts cancer research at the School of Medicine.

Elizabeth will graduate from the McIntire School of Commerce this May, with concentrations in IT and Global Commerce. She will join Bain & Company in Austin, TX, as an Associate Consultant on the General Practice team, where she hopes to continue working on Digital and Technology cases following her internship last summer. Elizabeth is interested in building a career that combines strategy, technology, and leadership, guided by McIntire’s “Commerce for the Common Good” ethos.

Nathan is a third-year student at the University of Virginia studying Computer Science. He plans to return this fall for a Master of Computer Science degree. Nathan was a member of the overall winning team at the Center-sponsored Claude for Good Hackathon and placed first in the Education track at HooHacks 2026.

Zave is a third-year student at UVA's McIntire School of Commerce, concentrating in IT with a track in Analytics and AI. He is the co-founder of CorridorIQ, a migration intelligence platform for real estate that uses machine learning to track where people are moving across the U.S. and why. At HooHacks 2026, Zave and his teammate built "Council," a multi-agent harness for high-stakes decisions that simulates thousands of diverse perspectives to surface uniquely valuable ideas. He previously played NCAA Division III hockey at Wesleyan University before transferring to UVA.

Kayla is a third-year student at the University of Virginia, double-majoring in Data Science and Computer Science. She serves as a teaching assistant in Computer Science and was a member of the overall winning team at the Center’s Claude for Good Hackathon last November. She will join PwC this summer as a Cloud, Data Analytics, and AI Consulting Intern.

Nicole is a third-year student at the McIntire School of Commerce, concentrating in Management and minoring in Entrepreneurship. She is the founder of Lumeria, a clothing brand she has grown to over six figures in annual revenue over the past seven years. Nicole is actively involved in the startup ecosystem and currently works in marketing strategy for Clair Health. She is also interested in content creation and, in her free time, competes on the UVA tournament pickleball team and enjoys attending concerts.

Olivia is a third-year Commerce student pursuing double concentrations in Marketing and IT. She is a thesis candidate in the Global Commerce Scholars program and has worked as a research assistant at McIntire under Professor Emma Zhao. Olivia was part of the overall winning team at the Center-sponsored Claude for Good Hackathon and placed first in the Education track at HooHacks 2026.

Elyse is a third-year student at the University of Virginia, studying Computer Science and double-minoring in Studio Art and Data Science. She works as a Teaching Assistant in the Computer Science department at UVA, with an interest in HCI and UI/UX design. Elyse was a member of the overall winning team at the Center's Claude for Good Hackathon and was also a member of the team that placed first in the Education track at HooHacks 2026.