What do you teach?
The courses that I am now teaching are BUS 255, Introduction to Operations and Technology Management, and BUS 461/553, Introduction to R in Business. As part of my Ph.D. studies at the University of Texas in San Antonio, I taught Principles of Information Systems and Introduction to Java Programming.
As a professor, I strive to incorporate my professional experience into classroom learning by using real-time learning case studies relating to technology and management. Thank you to the OTM department at the University of Portland for enabling me to teach courses in my area of expertise, Information Systems, and Technology Management. In my research on data analytics, I rely significantly on data and strive to obtain insights into a business problem to answer research questions. As a business analyst and consultant for a large financial institution, I worked on the operations side to deliver data insights based on real-time customer financial transactions from business and information technology (IT) perspectives. During my time as a consultant, I was part of significant breakthroughs in core IT development, such as recognizing fraudulent transactions, mitigating risks and losses in the event of a data breach, and developing preventive methods for the early detection of fraudulent activity through financial transactions. In addition, working for the financial organization taught me about the complexity of enterprise systems, the intricacies of data sources, the importance of investing in current technology and infrastructure to strengthen core business operations, and the importance of maintaining harmony between IT development and management teams from various functional areas.
Operations and Technology Management is a combination of business strategies and the use of modern technology at work to implement efficient business processes. Fortunately, my experience allowed me to provide my students with easily understandable and meaningful use cases while teaching Operations and Technology management classes, Information Systems Principles classes, and Data Analytics classes. I combine the textbook-based information with my research and practical experience and the experiences of my professional network while teaching my students about how organizations use modern technology. The experiences help my students understand critical Information Systems such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems, the Cloud, and Data Mining at work.
Why should students take your courses?
My instructional style entails teaching theoretical concepts and testing these theoretical issues that necessitate practical thinking, to give a concise response to this question. Having seen young people at work for the past decade, I’ve found that technological competition has pushed students to seek out environments that demand them to quickly acquire skills that they can put to the test. I use the similar approach of giving my students something they can understand right away and then improvising their learning by creating a self-study based on the fundamentals we learnt in class. Because of the complicated nature of today’s businesses, corporations use a wide range of information systems. This is due to a wide range of IT and non-IT vendors supporting and integrating organizations’ systems, as well as the availability of a broad range of technical solutions for each problem. Prior to encouraging technology enthusiasts with a commercial perspective to examine other choices, a comprehensive description of current technical difficulties and major solutions that corporations tend to choose is provided. Many of the case studies that my students debate in class, as well as the analytics ideas and programming tools, use a similar approach. I use a strategy in which I present an idea to students and then assess them using a different tool or technique. Creating such an environment encourages students to think critically and adds interest to the classroom.
I connect the majority of course topics to straightforward problems that businesses attempt to address in a variety of ways. For instance, we are all aware that the pageRank algorithm is the fundamental notion driving Google’s success (at least in the early days of the launch of Google search). Any firm, large or small, can use this method, but they will not achieve the same level of success as Google. Yahoo, Bing, and AOL are just a few instances of search engines that have never been officially recognized as such. There are numerous reasons for Google’s success, but two stand out: the data that Google connects to (also known as links) and smart business. Data is critical to success in the modern world we live in. And the business strategies are the second most critical factor in success. These are two pillars upon which my courses are built. I encourage my students to measure their abilities using real-world data that is sufficiently large to provide a challenge while they are acquiring new skills. The Google search example makes more sense when students in my programming classes evaluate their programs against two distinct datasets, one with a conservative sample size and one with a large sample size. Students gain an appreciation for the theoretical idea of big data when an appropriate algorithm is applied to the appropriate data sample. Similarly, as the semester progresses, I introduce many concepts incrementally and connect an increasing number of disjointed dots. The appropriate recipe for my classes is to break down concepts into bite-sized pieces.
I believe that courses should be designed in such a way that it encourages students to participate in “higher-order thinking.” As a result, the course I teach is primarily weighted toward the practical side while also emphasizing the inherent beauty of mathematical and scientific theory.
What are you working on?
My research interests are broadly defined as the processing of user-generated material or essentially the analysis of customer reviews or comments on social media. My continuing research and recently published articles have concentrated on three areas: discovering new markets via the network of products, capturing eWOM (electronic word of mouth) features that influence product demand, and user emotions that influence stakeholders via text messages. By undertaking multi-method research, I have attempted to increase our understanding of market dynamics and human behavior within the context of network analysis.
I use network analysis and text mining tools in conjunction with econometrics and behavioral science to investigate the impact of customer feedback on business performance and general public behavior during a social event such as COVID-19. Additionally, as a result of my interest in cutting-edge Blockchain technology, I began investigating methods to leverage Blockchain to streamline corporate operations.
I’ve had the following recent publications in prestigious academic journals:
Emotions During the COVID-19 Crisis: A Health Versus Economy Analysis of Public Responses in American Behavioral Scientist, (With Paras Bhatt; Rohit Valecha; H.R. Rao).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642211050901
Intelligent Network Layer for Cyber-Physical Systems Security in International Journal of Smart Security Technologies (IJSST) 8(2) (With Rajasekhar Chaganti & Deepti Gupta)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/IJSST.2021070103
I have two manuscripts under second round review at prestigious international journals.
Blockchain Use-Case in Ballistics and Crime Gun Tracing and Intelligence: Towards Overcoming Gun Violence (With Patricia Akello and Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo; Under second round review at Government Information Quarterly)
User Privacy, Surveillance and Public Health during COVID-19 – An Examination of Twitterverse (Paras Bhatt; Rohit Valecha; H.R. Rao; Currently under second round review at Information Systems Frontier)
Furthermore, I am examining the ways in which uncertainty is expressed in text messages and the effect of uncertainty on the diffusion of information via social media platforms. Additionally, I am exploring the impact of acknowledged uncertainty on personal decision-making, particularly when it comes to managing an individual’s personal resources.
What do you like to do for fun?
Tennis is one of my favorite sports, and I follow it avidly (I can just watch any Tennis match and quickly become a fan to someone for that day if the person plays well). The desire to play professional Tennis was always a goal of mine, and I tried several times to master the game through professional coaching before giving up. As I couldn’t accomplish tremendous success with Tennis, I decided to give my kids more opportunities to learn it. Playing Tennis with my kids is one of my favorite pastimes. Table Tennis is a lot like Tennis because there aren’t as many courts in Portland as there are back in Texas, where I came from, perhaps because of the weather here. My impression is Table Tennis is just like a smaller version of Tennis and is a decent replacement to play at our convenience. I decided to keep my car out of the way and put a Table Tennis table in our garage instead! Playing Table Tennis has become a lot more enjoyable for my entire family and me.
Hiking has recently taken hold of me along with my family, becoming a new pastime for us all. To improve one’s health, one should go for a walk in the woods without a purpose and explore the trails.
Connect with Dr. Vemprala at – https://www.up.edu/directory/Naga-Vemprala.html