2018 New Faculty
Meet the extraordinary new teachers and researchers who joined the Poole College faculty in 2018.
Richard Barnes
Title/Program: Lecturer, Department of Accounting
Education: Master of Accountancy and Juris Doctor degrees, University of South Carolina
Classes Taught: Introduction to Managerial Accounting
Industry Experience: My experience is in executive management, entrepreneurship and tax practice in firms of all sizes. I apply that to my teaching by emphasizing the interaction between financial analysis and decision making. I also have a wealth of tax practice experience that helps me provide students with very realistic opportunities to apply their knowledge in a classroom setting.
Why I Chose Poole College: I came to Poole College because of the dynamic, entrepreneurial environment in the college. The willingness to innovate I see here is unusual in higher education.
“I came to Poole College because of the dynamic, entrepreneurial environment in the college. The willingness to innovate I see here is unusual in higher education.”
Tom Dow
Title/Program: Lecturer, Department of Accounting
Education: Master’s in accounting, University of Connecticut
Classes Taught: Intermediate Financial Accounting II, Information Systems
Industry Experience: I have 25 years of experience that includes public accounting at KPMG and corporate positions including manager of financial planning and analysis, controller and chief financial officer. This experience provides me with ample opportunity to provide real-life practice examples that link what the students are learning in the classroom to realistic experiences in practice.
Why I Chose Poole College: NC State and Poole College have a strong reputation, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with graduates of the college while in industry. When I decided to transition from industry to teaching I couldn’t think of a place I’d rather be, and I’m fortunate for the opportunity.
Noel Greis
Title/Program: Research Professor, Department of Business Management, Operations and Supply Chain Management; Co-Director, NC State-Tsinghua Center for Logistics and Enterprise Development
Education: Ph.D. in engineering, Princeton University
Research Focus: My research explores how innovations in digital technology and new sources of data — from real-time operational data to social media—are enabling organizations to rethink how they design, produce and deliver their products and services to their customers. My current work is focused on the application of digital technologies and data science tools to create smart manufacturing processes and connected supply chains that benefit people, companies, and economies.
Industry Impact: With a Research Opportunities Initiative grant from the UNC System, and in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Fayetteville State University, we recently established the Center for Self-Aware Manufacturing. We are working with more than 20 companies to redefine manufacturing and shop floor logistics in an “internet of things” environment. Our team is developing new methods of machine learning that incorporate domain knowledge to improve productivity on the shop floor and the quality of machined parts.
Why I Chose Poole College: My work is increasingly interdisciplinary. New digital technologies and the internet of things are rewriting the rules of business. NC State offered a tremendous opportunity to collaborate with faculty in disciplines ranging from mechanical and industrial engineering to computer science and transportation — even psychology.
George Habek
Title/Program: Lecturer, Department of Business Management, Information Technology and Business Analytics
Education: Master’s in applied statistics, University of Chicago
Classes Taught: Predictive Analytics for Business, Analytics: From Data to Decisions
Industry Experience: I bring 25 years of applied analytics experience across various industries. My most recent position was as a senior training consultant in the education practice for the SAS Institute. The breadth and depth of my experience helps make my teaching more effective and encourages students to think analytically.
Why I Chose Poole College: I chose to come to Poole College because of my passion for bringing the boardroom into the classroom and preparing students for real-world application.
Ayse Kabukcuoglu-Dur
Title/Program: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics
Education: Ph.D. in economics, University of Texas at Austin
Research Focus: My research focuses on international macroeconomics.
Industry Impact: Part of my research addresses the changes in inflation dynamics due to globalization — including greater openness to trade in goods, capital and labor. In my research, I study both theoretically and empirically how inflation in many advanced economies has become less responsive to domestic economic factors and more responsive to global factors. This, in turn, has implications for inflation modeling and forecasting and, therefore, the monetary policy of the central banks.
Why I Chose Poole College: The college has a great economics department and is very supportive of my research.
Ilze Kalnina
Title/Program: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics
Education: Ph.D. in economics, London School of Economics
Research Focus: My research agenda is mainly devoted to equipping economists with a variety of methods for analyzing financial data.
Industry Impact: My work is important for financial risk management.
Missy Makanui
Title/Program: Lecturer, Department of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Education: Master’s in speech communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Classes Taught: Introduction to Business Processes
Industry Experience: I have over 25 years experience working in the technology, pharmaceutical and aerospace industries and bring my real-world experiences to the classroom as I engage with students. We explore many concepts in business, including what it means to have a business mindset, working in a global marketplace, and motivating and leading people. I enjoy sharing my experiences and asking students to think about how the examples may apply to where they are in their lives right now.
Why I Chose Poole College: Poole College represents an exciting opportunity to shift gears in my career and influence leaders who are just beginning their careers. I enjoy being part of the Poole College community and learning with intelligent and curious people.
“I have over 25 years experience working in the technology, pharmaceutical and aerospace industries and bring my real-world experiences to the classroom as I engage with students.”
Monica DeLima Nogueira
Title/Program: Research Associate Professor, Department of Business Management, Operations and Supply Chain Management
Education: Ph.D. in computer engineering, University of Texas at El Paso
Research Focus: I’m interested in the use of answer set planning and programming technology to solve search and scheduling problems in food safety and public health. I have also researched the use of radio-frequency identification technology for cargo security and security of personal identification documents.
Rakesh Ravi
Title/Program: Data Scientist and Research Assistant Professor, Department of Business Management
Education: Master’s degree in computer networking, NC State University
Research Focus: My research focus is on business analytics and unstructured text analytics. I have been working on an industry-sponsored grant to design an open source natural language processing (NLP) engine that converts unstructured text to structured information. My research also extends to using open source visualization libraries that are integrated with the NLP process to visualize structured information.
Industry Impact: I am currently working on a three-year grant, sponsored by the American Coatings Association, to develop a platform that can analyze trends about how materials used in the coating industry are described in blogs, research papers and social media. We concentrate on mentions of the materials together with health impacts or environmental impacts. Apart from this project, I have worked on projects with Syngenta, Inavata, Pentair and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
Why I Chose Poole College: Poole College gave me my first opportunity as an intern when I was pursuing my master’s in NC State’s College of Engineering. The work was exciting to me, and it was in my area of interest. After I graduated, I wanted to continue working at the college because of the flexibility I have to work on different research areas, and I have been glad to have the opportunity to work with other faculty members in these areas of research.
Rishika Rishika
Title/Program: Assistant Professor, Department of Business Management, Marketing
Education: Ph.D. in business administration, University of California, Irvine
Research Focus: My main research focus is understanding the returns on investments that firms make in social media, digital media and mobile media marketing. I want to understand how firms interact with their consumers in today’s highly digital multichannel marketing environment and the factors or key strategies that help strengthen the consumer-firm relationship.
Industry Impact: My research helps firms understand the effects of their social, digital and mobile media marketing investments. In one of my research studies, I examined the effect of consumers’ participation in a firm’s social media platform. I found that a firm’s profitability increases following consumers’ engagement with the firm via the digital platform, suggesting that investing in a social media marketing communication strategy can lead to substantial returns for firms. This study, in particular, was widely covered across many media outlets.
Why I Chose Poole College: Poole College offers the best of both worlds for me. It places the perfect amount of emphasis on both teaching and research, which are my two passions. The student community in the college is highly motivated and driven, with an entrepreneurial mindset that makes it fun and exciting to teach; and, the college is full of academic scholars who are publishing in top journals, which keeps me motivated to pursue my goals of engaging in high-quality research.
“The student community in the college is highly motivated and driven with an entrepreneurial mindset that makes it fun and exciting to teach.”
Robert Whited
Title/Program: Assistant Professor, Department of Accounting
Education: Ph.D. in accounting, University of Tennessee
Research Focus: I focus on the role of the auditor in efficient capital markets, applied econometrics in accounting research, costs and benefits of financial reporting regulation, and economic incentives influencing auditor selection and auditor performance.
Industry Experience: I am a certified public accountant in North Carolina and previously worked as an auditor with EY.
