>> Welcome, I am Larry Wein.
Professor and the Senior Associate Dean
who oversees our PhD program at the GSB.
We're sorry that we can't meet in
person right now, but we are so glad to
see our graduates and their parents,
family and friends join us on Zoom for
this joyous and momentous occasion as we
celebrate the GSB, PhD class of 2020.
So here's what is happening today.
We've collected your thoughts,
videos and photos.
We have Professor Arvind Krishnamurthy
who won the 2020
PhD Distinguished Service Award,
giving a few remarks.
And then we have Diane Lee,
Assistant Dean for
the PhD program to give
us a champagne toast.
The PhD degree is special and
different from other degrees while
the goal of our master's degree programs
is for students to consume knowledge.
The goal of the PhD program is for
students to produce knowledge.
Graduates, I'd like to
reflect on everything
you've accomplished during
your last five to six years.
First, you got admitted into a program
with an admission rate of only 6%.
Next, lucky for us, you made
the wise choice to come to Stanford.
You arrived from all over
the world to this university.
And for some of you,
it was a culture shock.
It was almost always sunny and
it was ridiculously expensive.
You had an intense first year
of course work and you took and
passed your field exams,
then you took more courses.
Then came the most challenging part,
the long tenuous up and
down process of creating knowledge.
You look for an advisor.
You look for research topics.
You suffered the letdown when the data
you generated was not up to the task of
answering your research question or when
you were unable to prove a key theorem.
You experienced the elation of the Eureka
moment when everything comes together and
you realize you have a publishable paper.
You overcame your nervousness and
gave talks at professional conferences and
put your head down and incorporated
reviewers comments, interior revisions for
journal publication.
You went on the academic or industrial
job market and found yourself a job.
In short, you came in as a student and
you leave us as a colleague.
Our mission at Stanford is research and
education,
and those two goals come together
when faculty advise PhD students.
The student advisor relationship
is important, unique and lifelong.
To that end, I would like like to invite
each advisor to say a few words about
their student in their
students thesis research.
[MUSIC]
>> This is my chance to thank
Sam Antill for the great opportunity to
work with him while he's been
here at Stanford University.
Sam, I remember the day that I met your
parents when they came here to watch you
get the Lieberman Award.
I knew at that time that you were going to
be a superstar on the academic job
market and I was not surprised at
all to see that come to fruition.
Your job market paper made
a breakthrough discovery about the US
bankruptcy system and
its weak ability to sort firms into
those that should be
reorganized versus liquidated.
It was also a wonderful pleasure to work
with you in our joint research while
you've been here.
I look forward to watching your
progress after you leave Stanford and
staying in very close touch with you.
Thank you so much and
congratulations again on your PhD.
>> There is an old saying that some
professors like to jokingly say about
their students that I taught
them everything they know, but
not everything I know.
But with Sam Antill,
it's exactly the opposite.
I taught Sam pretty much
everything I know, but
not even close to everything
that he actually knows now.
Sam was a once in a lifetime student and
he does research on very
big picture problems.
Take corporate bankruptcy,
the US is considered the gold standard and
how it allocates its about trillion
dollars of backup assets per year.
But Sam carefully demonstrates that
this is not the case, that billions of
dollars or assets are liquidated when
they should have been kept alive.
Sam fell off to Harvard Business School
to start his academic career where
I got my PhD and
very close to where Sam grew up.
I don't think we could have
written a better script for
the beginning of Sam Antill's career.
[MUSIC]
>> Steve, Darrell, I'm so grateful for
all you've done for me as advisors.
Steve, I remember when I first got here
and I had no idea how to talk to faculty,
but you always made it so easy.
And I remember our weekly meetings
really got me excited about research.
And Darrell, I remember when my job
market paper was falling apart and
I was freaking out, but you still met with
me on a video call right away even though
it was the weekend and you were in Europe
and you made me feel so much better.
So for all the encouragement they both
gave me and all the lessons you've
taught me, and the practice talks you both
sat through, and the drafts you both read.
Thank you so much.
Also admitting shy, I went above and
beyond as committee members and
I couldn't have done it without you.
[MUSIC]
>> Hello, the GSB exchange model is often
used to talk about our MBA students,
our alumni and
our executive education participants.
It's rarely used in
the context of PhD students.
I had the great pleasure of working with
Miss Anjali Bhatt who is an exception.
Ms. Bhatt did an undergraduate
degree at Harvard in physics and
then worked in Silicon Valley in the high
tech industry for a couple of years before
deciding to change yourself
to help her change the world.
She enrolled into PhD program at
the GSB in organizational behavior and
move from hard sciences change from hard
sciences, and social sciences, and learn
to understand and analyze organizations,
and specifically organizational culture.
I have no doubt that she
exemplifies our model well.
She has changed her life and she's
going to change the life of many others.
She's also going to change a lot
of organizations in the world,
because an expert analyst
of organizational culture.
We're proud to have her.
Thank you, Anjali.
>> When Anjali first
joined our PhD program,
we all knew that she was a rising star.
But for some reason, it took her quite
a while to come to that realization.
Hopefully, now that she's been so
successful on the job market
that has started to sync in.
It's been such a pleasure
to work with Anjali.
Our brainstorming sessions were always
these explosions of creativity and
thinking outside the box.
And I always knew that when Anjali
would take on a responsibility,
she would do it in the most meticulous and
thorough way.
But also would come up
with these brilliant and
clever solutions that would push
our collaborative work, and
her own individual work forward in
very unexpected, and brilliant ways.
Well, maybe aside from one exception
when we were driving to a snowy
research site in the Midwest.
And for some reason,
Anjali who was driving refused to accept
the physics of skidding while speeding.
Anyway, Anjali, it's been a pleasure
working with you and seeing you evolve and
I look forward to seeing how
you evolve in the future.
Not only because it will be
rewarding to see your success,
but because I also know
that I will learn a lot.
From anything that you'll
be doing in the future.
Yours, Amir.
[MUSIC]
>> Glenn and Amir, I cannot express how
meaningful your mentorship has been for
me for the past five years.
The path to a PhD has been as emotionally
demanding as it has been intellectually
fulfilling.
The scariest thing for me about pursuing a
PhD was imagining how lonely it might be.
But throughout the process,
I've very much felt a part of a team,
a team that's had my back and
a team in which I'm an equal member.
And it's filled grad school
with a sense of camaraderie,
a sense of collective
effervescence if you will.
Glenn, in addition to your ever insightful
research suggestions, which invariably
shed light on a new perspective,
you've been my number one cheerleader.
And for that, I'm incredibly grateful.
I remember, for example, receiving
a package about this time last year
containing two books on
how to write productively.
There was no sender information.
So it was only after calling up Amazon
that I figured out that you had sent them
as encouragement during a time when I was
feeling extremely frustrated about my
still unwritten job market paper.
Amir, there's no doubt I would not be
studying culture if it weren't for
your PhD seminar my first year.
And you've inspired me to
transcend disciplinary boundaries.
But I'm equally thankful for
your constant reminder that we
are people beyond our research.
That we all have other priorities in life.
And that we can and
should look out for each other.
Whether by you proactively
creating space in lab meetings for
us to share how we're doing
outside of our academic selves.
Or following up about the health and
safety of a fellow student, or
making sure that I get an all-wheel
drive car rental for Wisconsin winter.
Thank you, both of you.
[MUSIC]
>> Rhia, it's your graduation.
I'm so incredibly proud of you.
I remember when you came as a PhD student
already with research published around
what creates meaning in
everyday experiences.
And not only did you take that research
and make it blossom with me and
with Cassie and Kathleen and
Melanie and David.
But also you were able to move
that research forward in ways
that I think are going to have such
a lasting impact on our field.
Be able to develop another
body of research, and
you've been able to move projects ahead in
ways that no one else I think really can.
You are able to see
what's really important,
you're able to test ideas
with really tight designs.
You're able to see not only the nuance and
details and
data, but also what the bigger picture is.
And I'm so incredibly proud of you and
I can't wait to see what you're
going to do next, congratulations.
>> Hi, Rhia, congratulations on
this tremendous accomplishment.
You've had an outstanding
run at the GSB and
I'm proud of everything
that you've achieved.
I have to say that although you've done
wonderful work with multiple faculty
members here at the GSB,
I'm especially excited about
the work you've done with me.
And one of my favorite things about our
collaboration is that I don't think any of
our projects turned out the way we thought
they would when we first envisioned them.
Seemed like we usually started with one
idea, looking at some aspect of advocacy
behavior or something, and
then learn something unexpected.
And then shifted the idea to focus on
something else a little bit different
related, but a little bit different
from the original question.
And I think that's really
improved our work.
So being open to that kind of shift
has been a great quality of our
collaboration together.
But it also made it a lot of fun to do.
So it's been a fun research journey for
me and thanks a lot for
letting me be a part of that.
On a personal note, I just want to add
that I've really enjoyed working with you.
You're never afraid to push back or
disagree with me and
that's often what I need.
And I'm going to miss that.
And I'm going to miss having
your sharp insight in lab and
in our one-on-one meetings.
To me, I think you've seemed
a little bit more like
a faculty colleague than
a student all along.
So I'm not really sure how much
I've taught you while you're here.
But I've enjoyed having you around
really enjoyed working with you and
I'm excited for all of your success.
So congrats again, Rhia.
Good luck with the move to Toronto and
really try to enjoy this
next phase of your career.
[MUSIC]
>> Jennifer, thank you for supporting me,
believing in me and looking out for
me from day one.
You've taught me to celebrate
every victory, big or small.
They're all champagne worthy.
And I'm so grateful for that outlook.
Zak, there have been so many times
when I've walked into your office
with uncertainty about a project,
a talk, or myself.
And every time, I've walked out
with a greater sense of clarity.
I remember after one particularly
disastrous practice job talk coming to you
so concerned about my upcoming talks.
And you were so
encouraging and positive and
gave me the exact pep talk that I needed.
Thank you for investing so much time
in my development as a researcher.
And I am grateful to have
had such a thoughtful,
responsive and
supportive advisor and mentor.
[MUSIC]
>> I think there are two things that
everybody who knows Solene Delecourt,
really admires.
The first is her incredible
intellectual determination.
She sets her mind at something and
it doesn't matter what field or
what discipline has looked at it before,
she's going to get to the bottom of it.
The second and related amazing thing about
Solene is just her incredible intellectual
curiosity and the joy and
passion that she gets from doing research.
No matter how negative the feedback,
no matter what the obstacles
in the research process,
she charges ahead with a smile on her face
and an incredible will to get things done.
It is really inspiring and
incredible to see and I think it's
going to carry her far in her career.
Congratulations, Solene.
[MUSIC]
>> You guys are here,
I remember when Jesper
gave me a pep talk before
I started going out and
fly out on the job market.
And Jesper told me in the morning when
you look at yourself in the mirror,
I want you to remember,
you're a very strong candidate.
I am a very strong candidate and
that gave me so much energy.
I would go on the fly outs like this.
[NOISE]
[LAUGH]
[MUSIC]
>> Dear Evgeni, since you first
arrived at the GSB up until now,
you have never failed to impress.
My favorite part of your experience here
has been working with you together on our
own joint research on
estimation of dynamic games.
I remember how when we first started,
you excitedly cranked out our main
results in such a short time.
And I remember thinking how smart you
were and how hard working you were.
Well, all your hard work has paid off
because all three of your papers and your
dissertation represent great contributions
to economics and econometrics.
I'm proud to have worked with
you these past five years.
And I look forward to working with you for
many years into the future.
Congratulations on receiving your PhD.
>> And again,
congratulations on the big day.
It's the culmination of
many years of hard work.
I'm really proud of
the research you've done.
I was really impressed to it, at first
when the results started coming in, they
were somewhat surprising to me, but over
time it came to find them very convincing.
And it was really impressive how that
you basically predicted the outcome
of one of the biggest antitrust
trials of the decade.
So I look forward to continuing
to work with you, and
to seeing you succeed in your next steps.
Congratulations on this big day.
[MUSIC]
>> I would like to say a few words
to my advisors, Ali Yurukoglu and
Lanier Benkard.
Well, in short, you guys rock.
Even understanding, supporting and
the just quit over these years.
Well, maybe some of it to the just quit,
but not that I'm complaining.
There have been some good
times when we had spicy ideas.
There have been some frustrating
times when nothing seemed to work.
There have been some very rough times,
like the time when we figured
out that someone has already done our
research and published it in Econometrica.
But we managed to go
through this together.
Thank you.
[MUSIC]
>> Hey Naomi,
a congratulations on finishing.
I'm so proud of you.
Am happy that we've come to this point,
it was tough in the beginning.
I know it was hard to find
just that right steady or
the right set of studies that work for
you, and it was a struggle at first, and
I'm really happy and
proud that you persevered and
I'm looking forward to what you going to
do in the future, congrats again.
[MUSIC]
>> I remember when I came to Stanford for
alma day.
Brian told me that his ultimate goal for
his students wasn't that they
get great jobs,
although of course that's important too.
But instead, his goal was that
his students would leave Stanford
thinking about the world differently
than they had when they first arrived.
I think that sentiment really gets
at the heart of what I have gained
from the past 5 years.
I've picked up new research skills and
developed expertise in my field.
But what has been the most valuable thing
from all of the classes, my meetings and
discussions, is how Brian and
other faculty members here have really
challenged my thinking and pushed me
to develop a deeper understanding
of the social world around me.
Not only as an observer and
a researcher, but
also as an active participant
in that social world.
So Brian, I wanted to say thank you for
all of the stories and metaphors and
lessons over the years, I'm so grateful
to have had you as a mentor and advisor.
And from where I stand, at least I think
your goal has certainly been achieved.
I'm definitely leaving
here with a richer and
more nuanced understanding of the world
than I had when I first got here.
And that is in large part thanks to you,
so thank you.
[MUSIC]
Hi, Megan.
I'd like to congratulate you for
earning your PhD here at
the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
It was truly an honor and
a pleasure to be a part of that and
to work with you throughout your
entire time here at the GSB.
Good researches is a lot like innovation.
There's a lot of risks along the way.
There's a lot of stops, starts and
a lot of learning as you try to shape
the way people think about things.
I think you certainly went
through that process and
you really nailed it when we
got to your dissertation.
You were able to analyze some
interesting ratings, data and
find evidence that firms were doing
some things to try to improve their
ability to get up to a higher star
rating when they were on that margin.
And and then once you saw that evidence
that they were doing things you gave us
two great explanations for
why that might have happened.
One that maybe the firm's
are figuring out a way to select
a certain type of customer that was
likely to give them a higher rating.
Or maybe avoid the customers who
are going to give them poor ratings.
The other explanation I think,
is a really, interesting and
positive one that those firms were
exerting extra effort in creating a better
customer experience when
they were near that margin.
So then once you were able to show that
then you could look at possibilities for
platform design whereby those
firms could actually try to
offer that effort more broadly
as opposed to opportunistically
merely when they were at
these rating thresholds.
So I think that was a fantastic insight.
I think you used some skills and
abilities that you probably
didn't know you were capable of.
And for
me an advisor to be part of that and
to see you mature as a scholar,
reach those new heights and
I think really hit your stride when
you were getting ready to graduate and
move on from here is truly a pleasure and
something that I'm very grateful for.
And I'm excited to see everything that
you do after you leave the GSB here.
I expect some of that is going to be
following up more in your dissertation.
Some of it's going to be you're restarting
and pushing forward some of those
other projects when you were here,
but I think you've got an exciting
research career ahead of you and
I can't wait to see how it evolves.
Thanks a lot.
[MUSIC]
>> First, I am so
grateful to have had you as my advisor.
I have fond memories of us
walking over to Copper.
Starting in my first year when we will
talked about why rewards programs exist.
And think about the big open
questions in marketing.
And in my last year walking through
the nitty gritty details of
iteration after iteration of
the model of my job market paper.
I remember one time when I thought my job
market paper wasn't going to work out and
you provided me with optimism and
encouragement.
We walked through examples
on your whiteboard and
you offered to meet with me just
a few days later to check in.
I also want to thank Jim and Leneer for
being great community members and
mentors as well.
[MUSIC]
>> Enrique Ide's research is about
how economic forces make it hard for
companies to innovate.
In particular, I have learned
from his work why if management
has a lack of commitment to stick
long enough to innovative projects,
it can undermine employee motivation, and
through a feedback effect
completely undermine such projects.
>> Enrique's research is special,
especially my opinion, because it combines
threats from the management literature and
from micro economic theory,
and that creates a unique and
novel perspective on first order
issues in organizational economics.
Enrique, congratulations on
writing a beautiful dissertation.
And I'm looking forward to reading
more of your papers in the future.
[MUSIC]
>> Hello, Andy.
Well, what can I say?
Thank you very much for all your support
and guidance during this almost six years.
>> This crazy journey would not have been
possible without the countless hours
of debate and discussions that we had
in both on and off the soccer pitch.
I told you this before, but
you're actually more than a mentor and
an advisor, you're actually a friend.
[MUSIC]
>> Hi everyone.
I'm really lucky to have been working
with Paris's PhD advisor over the last
five years.
It was such a privilege,
joy and intellectual adventure.
Paris is super smart,
hardworking, full of good ideas.
Way too generous, way too kind and
so much fun to work and
spend time with, which are six out of the
four things that you want in a student.
Or a colleague, in fact, he was always
much more of a colleague than a student,
and I have learned an awful lot from him,
very independent.
He would always politely listen to my
advice, do things his own way, and
then try to give me all the credit.
He's also great at giving talks, so
good that whenever he goes to give one,
I will get a bunch of emails applauding
his performance, like this one, from
a very distinguished psychology professor,
dude, where did you find this guy?
When is he going on the job market?
Or this one, from another scholar, I'm
watching Horace present his dissertation,
and people are interrupted.
He's also killing it,
in terms of his presentation technique.
In fact, I even have a picture here
of Horace, killing it on the stage.
He was also the only person in
the conference wearing a tie.
And I also have this one of him
practicing, I guess waiting at the crafts.
Horace, I wish you all the best
in your future life and career.
And I'm so very proud of you.
You are way more awesome than you think.
I'm sure that you will keep
changing the world, and
keep spreading your wonderful energy and
warmth.
I hope that you will visit us,
your Stanford family as often as possible.
I'm very excited about the new adventures
and achievements that awaits you, and
I feel very grateful for
having had a chance to work with you and
learn from you over the last five years.
Thank you so much Horace, and
congratulations for the new job.
UCLA is very lucky to have you.
[MUSIC]
>> Thanks Michal, for being an incredible,
thoughtful, and supportive mentor.
I'll always remember,
there's long conversations
about research in your office.
Making sure you take breaks to get tea.
And I'm so pleasured to work with you,
and learn from you,
and I'll always be grateful, thank you.
[MUSIC]
I'm Michael Ostrovsky, and
I'm Yucheng Liang advisor.
Yucheng's dissertation is about learning
from unknown information sources,
which means of your status how decision
makers, process information and
update their beliefs, when the source of
that information has unknown quality.
Where we're not certain how much we can
trust the accuracy of that information.
It's pretty clear that,
this describes most of the information
that we as humans face, and
what Yucheng studies, are the biases that
we have when processing such information.
A couple of personal
observations about Yucheng, is,
I would like to highlight
his creativity and tenacity.
And above all, when he first
told me about these ideas, and
about the experiments
he was planning to run,
my reaction was to be very hard to
confirm this in the real world data.
This could be fairly challenging.
And to my surprise, just a few months
later, Yucheng came with this wonderful
addition to the paper, demonstrating
that these biases are in fact reflected
in how the stock market market reacts
to forecasts from analysts, and
in particular, how this reaction depends
on whether the information is positive or
negative, and whether these
analysts are experienced or not.
And these differences map very neatly
into the theory that Yucheng develops,
and confirms the experiments
that he was running.
So, I found that incredibly impressive.
And with that, Yucheng, I wish you
all the best, I'm looking forward to
seeing more of the great papers that
you're going to write in the near future,
and best of luck.
[MUSIC]
>> I remember the day after my second
year paper presentation, my advisor
Michael Ostrovsky told me, you did a great
job, from now on, don't work on this.
In the past four years,
Mike has constantly pushed
me to work on big questions.
Ones that I wouldn't feel embarrassed
to bring up in front of Bill Gates.
Thank you, Mike, for
always holding me up to a high standard.
I hope I can live up to it some day.
[MUSIC]
>> Hi Chris, just wanted to
drop you a quick note to say
how happy I've been to be your advisor,
and how much I've learned from you.
And I'm just excited to see all
the great things you'll do in the world.
And specifically, whether it's
been working together on papers,
reading your own research, and
especially just discussing all the papers
as part of our editorial duties.
Just every aspect of my career
you just made a lot better and
amplified, because of your intelligence,
good spirits and great friendship.
Congratulations on graduating, and
look forward to staying in touch.
[MUSIC].
>> I remember when I first met Neil,
or first spoke to Neil,
I was a senior undergrad,
and I was about to,
I was thinking about entering
the Research Fellows Program at the GSB.
And I was proud to make this decision,
and one of the administrators
at the time asked if I'd
like to speak to some faculty member I
might be interested in working with.
And they set me up with Neil.
And I remember being
impressed by two things.
One was, his deeply strategic way
[LAUGH] of thinking about everything,
and the other was just his true
passion and enthusiasm for
what he was doing and for research.
And that's ultimately what
brought me to the GSB.
And I couldn't be more grateful for
that opportunity.
[MUSIC]
>> Steven, I'm so
proud to be your advisor, and
to have the privilege of working with
you this past four and a half years.
From the start of your time at the GSB,
it's been so
great to talk with you, about your
interest in the practice of accounting and
the practice of auditing,
and why it's so important.
Also from the start of your time at
the GSB, I got to see how kind and
supportive you were to all your
classmates, especially Chloe and
Eddie, who were with you in my
A610 class your first year.
Yours is a very special class.
And the kindness and
generosity you've shown to each other,
along with your hard work and
your talent for research,
have already contributed to
your success in the program.
Steven, I know your dedication to
your scholarship and your concern for
others will be great assets to you
as you go forward in your career.
As your advisor, I'm so proud of
all you've accomplished, and I'm so
happy to see you in Montana,
with Mariah and Marie, ready to continue
your research, and share your knowledge
with generations of students.
So thank you for sharing this wonderful
journey with me, and congratulations.
I look forward to all that comes next.
[MUSIC]
>> Hi, Maureen, thank you so much for
everything you've done for me, for
being my advisor, for
helping me to learn through the research.
It's hard to believe
graduation's already come.
It's been both of, very fast and
very slow five years at the same time.
I feel very lucky to have been your RA and
have had you as my advisor as well.
You've taught me so
much about how to do research, and
you've always been very caring, helping me
to focus on what's going to be best for
my career and my happiness.
And, I just feel really lucky that you've
been there for me in all of this, and
I know that I wouldn't have
gotten to this point without you.
Thank you so much.
[MUSIC]
Dear Ilya, congratulations on
having arrived at this day.
I'm greeting you, virtually,
from the same room in Fontainebleau,
where I once received my PhD.
In your thesis, you've worked on how
costly consumer search changes and
affects the value of innovations to firms.
However, going beyond
your thesis research,
I think that in the past years,
you've actually developed into someone
who is capable of conducting research
at the highest quality standards.
In fact,
I think that you've used your time
at the Stanford PhD program very,
very well.
So now, you will take up your first
job as an assistant professor
at the Kellogg School of Management
of Northwestern University.
That in and by itself,
is a great accomplishment.
Yep, I think actually,
that a lot of good research is going to
come from you, in the years to come.
So for now,
I say enjoy this wonderful day.
I say goodbye to you as a student,
but I'm proud and
delighted to welcome you as a colleague.
Take good care.
>> I remember distinctly, probably during
his first or maybe second year of his PhD,
Ilya came to my office, as he often would,
and we would talk about research ideas,
recent papers, things of that sort.
And at that time, he would ask me what I
thought at the time were very mature and
deep questions about how
to conduct research.
He would ask me,
how do I approach a research project?
Do I start with the question first,
do I look at the data first, how do
I generally think about this process?
And I remember thinking it was
incredibly mature to start
thinking about these things so
early on in the PhD program.
And even I think on the same day talked to
some of the other faculty in marketing,
telling them about that conversation and
how impressed I was with the way
he was approaching things.
And so starting from there,
it's been an extreme pleasure to see Ilya
just progress with so much success
through the PhD program at Stanford.
To see him write what I think
is a very interesting and
insightful dissertation on the role
of informational frictions
on new product adoption, and to see
him continue to work as a researcher.
And what I think is incredibly
interesting new domain of research
on how consumers gather information
before making a purchase and
trying to understand what as researchers
we can learn from that behavior.
So I've been incredibly proud as
an advisor to see him succeed as he did on
the program, to see him land a job as
an assistant professor of marketing
at Kellogg, and I wish him all the best
for the next step in his career.
[MUSIC]
Once upon a time, there was a young man
who knew little about life and research,
but with all his heart wanted
to become a good researcher.
And so he came to seek
advice from three wise men.
Tell me, wise men, how can I exceed
in academia, asked the young man.
Well, replied the first man,
you should first come up with a good and
juicy research question scientists
care about and do not chase fashion.
Instead, choose a question such that
answering it will change the way we think
about the world.
What a great advice, said the second man
who was clearly in a very cheerful mood.
If I might add one thing,
study things that fascinate you, and
you will always find energy and
motivation to keep moving forward.
Well, that's all great, said the third
man, but also remember to do good and
honest work because you want to
become a good researcher, and not
because someone else wants it for the job
market, for tenure, or any other reason.
Do it for yourself and
everything else will come with it.
[MUSIC]
Hey everyone, so
this a video mainly for Ignacio.
Natio, I just wanted to say that I'm
really proud of how much you have
achieved in this past five years and
how much you grew as a researcher.
I still remember crystal clear
the first time I met you.
It was in New York City, you were
visiting as a prospective student,
and I'm really, really, really happy
that you decided to come to Stanford.
You gave me the opportunity
to work with you.
So I wish you the best of luck in
this new chapter in your life as
an assistant professor and
also congratulation to everyone,
to all the PhDs that
are graduating from the GSB 2020.
[MUSIC]
I remember the day I met Daniela,
I was considering Columbia University when
I was deciding where to study my PhD.
And it was kind of funny because
she was a student there.
She was finishing her PhD and
we met at the stairs of the building.
Because she was telling us how bad and
depressive it was to stay there,
because their cafes are in the middle of
the building, they have no windows, and
they're surrounded by professors, so
it's kind of a hostile environment.
So she was telling us all about it and
how depressive it was.
So I think that helped me to make my
decision of coming to Stanford to
start my PhD, and
it was kind of a funny way to meet her.
[LAUGH] So Daniela wanted to thank you for
all the time you have invested in me,
for your feedback, and for
your constant help, and I hope we
stay in touch in the future, thanks.
[MUSIC]
>> Hey, Amy, congratulations.
I wish I could be with you in person and
hug you, but
given pandemic, it's the way we are.
I'm really proud of you.
I mean, your success is much deserved,
and I know you'll do great going forward.
>> Congratulations, Amy.
On behalf of Brian and
myself, we just want to congratulate
you on graduating today.
And on the many
accomplishments that you've
achieved over the course of your PhD.
You certainly have a lot to celebrate, and
we're really proud of the great work that
you're doing on how race and
gender interact to produce inequality.
We know that you're going to thrive
in Utah and continue to do really
interesting and groundbreaking
work that'll shake up the field.
Thanks for
including me in your journey, Amy.
It's been such an honor to be along for
the ride.
I know your legacy is just beginning and
I cannot wait to continue
to watch you shine.
[MUSIC]
>> As we celebrate today,
I want to express my gratitude first and
foremost to Brian Lowery, my primary
advisor over the past six years,
who has always been an incredible mentor
to me and to all of his students,
really creating an unconditional support
family-like environment for all of us.
So thank you, Brian, for that.
For always encouraging us to
define success in our own way and
pursue our own version of happiness and
for
being willing to share hard truths
with us when it matters most.
I also want to thank Ashley Martin,
whom we've worked with for the past two
years since she came at Stanford and has
just been an absolute joy to work with.
She's incredibly excited and
gives me wonderful feedback.
And she's so
supportive not just to me, but
to all of the students in
the microbiome department.
And finally to Michel Gelfand,
who actually just
joined the faculty at Stanford but was my
mentor before I came to Stanford helped me
get accepted to Stanford through
a wonderful letter of recommendation.
And then did it the same again for me this
year while I was on the job market, so
thank you to Michelle for
always being my cheerleader.
And thank you to Brian,
Ashley, and Michelle,
all of you been incredible
in my journey into academia.
[MUSIC]
>> Dear audience, I was asked to take
a short video to express how I feel
about the fact that you're graduating.
And I guess this is my chance
to say just how proud I am of
all your accomplishments.
For a typical PhD student, just finishing
the thesis is a huge stepping stone, and
one that comes at the end of
a really long and painful process.
But being able to do it in
the way in which you have been,
being remote from campus for so many
years and working so independently and
completing, working on a really hard
problem and being able to complete
everything that you were set out to
do is a truly amazing accomplishment.
I couldn't be more proud of
what you were able to do, and
I am sure that in the years to come,
what is currently your thesis will turn
into three amazing papers that will
make your accomplishments in robust
mechanism design known to
the broader research community.
And I can only hope that we have
a chance to celebrate properly together,
sometime soon in person,
everything that you're able to do.
In the meantime, congratulations,
and enjoy the celebration.
[MUSIC]
>> I would like to thank my advisor Dan
Iancu very much for many things first, for
his unparalleled kindness and patience,
and as it wasn't physical at Stanford for
the last two years, I would like to
thank him for his understanding, and
help with this situation, I would like
to thank them for being a brilliant
scholar and professional, a person whose
knowledge is very broad and yet deep.
Which is for me something definitely to
dream of and strive for, and finally,
I would like to thank them for long,
long conversations on various topics not
necessarily related to
the topic of my thesis.
But as we all know such conversations
are perhaps no less important,
than pieces advice itself.
So thanks Dan, thanks Stanford,
and thanks all you guys for
giving me one of the most
incredible experiences of my life.
[MUSIC]
>> Carlos has a fantastic
research agenda and
beautiful dissertation on variety
of topics and political economy.
Looking at, how places like Brazil can
get great candidates to run for office,
how information the media can
help hold them to account.
Big questions are the center of helping
governments work better for poor people.
What stands out for me most of all Carlos
is he's a real research entrepreneur and
that has a few different
related components.
One, he has big, powerful ideas and
he has lots of them,
he executes on them quickly and when they
are success, he takes them to fruition.
And when they fail, he fails fast and
he lets them go, and
that is the kind of agility and ability
that will stand him well going forward.
Carlos, I am so proud of you, I wish you
all the best and please do keep in touch.
[MUSIC]
>> Hi, so I just want to say thanks
to Kate for all her patience and
guidance over the last five years and, for
helping me successfully
graduate from the program.
I'm also grateful for our her patience and
not getting tired of endlessly
discussing Brazilian radios for
my dissertation, so yeah,
thanks Kate, for everything.
[MUSIC]
>> Dear Jonathan,
congratulations on finishing your PhD,
it's a remarkable accomplishment.
Your research on integrating market power
into financial markets, has implications
far beyond the covered interest parity
violations that you studied so far.
I think you have an amazing
research career ahead of you, and
will do great at Harvard.
I especially remember when you first came
to my office, and you had these ideas,
I think you've gone a long way in
terms of how to implement your ideas.
But the basic creativity and insight that
you brought, even from the first time I
met you, has stayed with you
through this whole experience.
And I think that that creativity and
desire to understand the world,
will take you to great heights.
So again congratulations,
great job on the job market, and
I look forward to many wonderful
things from you in the future.
>> Jonathan, congratulations and
all the best at Harvard,
you should be very proud of your
accomplishments, as an advisor,
I have seen how you got here, and I want
to pause and just reflect on your path.
You started working on imperfect
competition and asset markets in your
second year, I remember while your
second year paper presentation,
most of the faculty were skeptical
of where you were going, but
you stuck to your guns and kept pushing.
I remember your early work in foreign
exchange markets, it looks suggestive,
it's still not convincing evidence for
your theory, but again you stuck with it
until you hit upon the idea of looking
at the four market over quarter ends.
And then you've produced a significant
piece of research that will change the way
that people think about
foreign exchange markets.
Getting a job at Harvard is well deserved,
and a great start to your academic career.
You will be missed here at Stanford,
we'll miss your energy and enthusiasm for
research, your comments
in the reading group,
the over coffee conversations
will all be missed.
I will also miss sitting
at a meal with you and
watching you consume
enormous amounts of food.
But I hear that Harvard has generous
budget for seminar dinners, and
I wonder if they should be warned of
what they're getting themselves into.
But more seriously, I'm looking forward to
the day after this pandemic, when we sit
together at a restaurant in Cambridge
sharing a meal with fellow professors.
Congratulations again, and all the best.
[MUSIC]
>> My principal advisor is Arvind
Krishnamurthy, you may have heard of him.
He just won the distinguished
faculty service support, and I'm so
grateful to have had him with me for
my PhD program.
It was a long and arduous journey,
where in the beginning I was nurturing
research ideas with potential,
and Arvind would Kindle my curiosity, and
guide me to asking the right questions.
And when I would stray or
get lost in a tangent, Arvind would have
the wisdom to know how to nudge me back
on path, and for that, I am so grateful.
I would also like to thank my other
advisors, Darrell, Hollow and Ben.
Darrell Duffy taught me to always
maximize learning, and that's
the lesson that I will take with me to the
classroom and future research projects.
Hanna taught me to label my graphs and
to define all the variables on my slide.
Hanna also taught me that a good
scholar Is a rigorous one,
and finally,
I cannot think enough then your Ben,
Ben has been so selfless with his time for
the past four years.
We had long discussions about
research both his and mine, And
despite being a young faculty member,
Ben is wise beyond his years and
has a innate talent for
asking questions that are both
insightful and precise.
I am so
grateful to these four giants in my field.
Thank you.
[MUSIC]
>> Hi, Eddie.
I guess I should call you Dr.
Edward, now that you finish your PhD.
Thought you did a great job
on the dissertation research,
private companies,
stock sales is a big deal.
And I think something you definitely
should work on going forward.
It's great you've got [COUGH] two or
three papers published coming out.
It's a great start for you.
Congratulations on your job at Yale.
I think it's a perfect position for you.
I'm really proud of you and
congratulations, and let's keep in touch.
>> Hello, it is my pleasure to
introduce to you, Eddie Watts PhD.
Eddie is a candidate, well,
he's now a new Professor out
of the area of accounting.
Eddie's dissertation studies
an important new marketplace in which
the shares of private pre-IPO firms
are sold to outside investors.
In recent years,
startup firms are choosing to remain
private much longer than before.
And one consequence of this
longer incubation period
is that employees of these
startups end up bearing
significant risk in the form of illiquid
company holdings prior to the IPO.
And in response to these developments,
a number of online trading platforms
have emerged to facilitate the sale of
employee shares to corporate outsiders
prior to a firm going public.
Eddie, through much persistence, was able
to secure the transaction history from one
of the oldest of these online platforms.
And his work provides us our first glimpse
into this new and exciting developing
form of equity exchange that's taking
place without much public disclosure.
In some ways, the very existence of these
markets is a bit of an economic puzzle.
In the absence of public
financial disclosures and
facing sellers that
are corporate insiders,
Investors in these markets can find
enormous information asymmetry risk.
And the firms themselves also
have something to lose and
that the employees sales in these
markets can convolute cap tables and
dilute retention benefits
of equity compensation.
And yet, in spite of all these problems,
Eddie's work shows that
billions in pre-IPO shares
have been exchanged hands
through this platform.
And this work is already shedding new
light on the economics of entrepreneurial
finance and the value of public financial
disclosure in the funding of startups.
Eddie, I don't know if you remember,
but six or so years ago, I received
a phone call on my cell phone when we were
trying to recruit you into this program.
And you wanted to know
tentatively whether or
not I would be around until
you can finish your program.
Well, here you are Eddie,
you're going to be a new professor
at the Yale School of Management,
and I'm still here.
I can't be more proud of you.
I know you're going to do fantastic work,
going forward.
And I am so grateful that I had
the opportunity to be your professor,
your co-author,
your colleague and your friend.
I wish you all the best and
I hope that years later,
I'll get to visit you as
a tenured professor at a great
school like Yale or somewhere else.
Thank you.
[MUSIC]
>> I just want to send a huge thank
you to my advisors, Charles Lee and
Dave Walker for all their guidance and
support during my time at Stanford.
I remember when another faculty
member once told me that Dave and
Charles are some of the last true
mentors we have in our profession.
And reflecting on the past five years, I
can't stress how true that's been for me.
They've always been there with advice and
help if I needed it, and
it's through their kindness and
support that I made it here to the end.
Charles and Dave,
if either of you are watching this,
I hope you both know how proud
I am to have been your student.
[MUSIC]
Hugh's dissertation grapples with
central issues in personnel economics.
And he studies them through
the lens of large Chinese firms.
What really strikes me about Hugh is that,
if you looked at the kinds of papers he
was writing and his interests earlier on
in his PhD you're just blown away by
how much they've changed and evolved.
And when he started working
with firms in China,
implementing randomized control
trials within the firm,
he just caught fire and
his research just totally took off.
It's extraordinary
transformation to be a part of.
Hugh, I am so proud of you.
Congratulations and
I look forward to keeping in touch.
>> Hello, Hugh, I want to congratulate
you on this day, special day for you.
It's obviously one of the most
important days in your life.
Graduating from Stanford is a huge deal.
And you've done a lot to deserve it.
Your thesis and your work on understanding
hiring is extremely important.
This is a new area.
It's an area that many economists,
personnel economists
have been attracted to.
And your focus on delegation and
on understanding the difference
between hiring under a delegated
situation and centralization is key.
The other thing I want to commend
you on is your entrepreneurship.
You've just been amazingly productive and
energetic in getting data,
putting together a fabulous thesis.
Congratulations to you and good luck.
[MUSIC]
>> Hi Eddie, hi Kate, this is Hugh.
I just want to say thank you for
being such great advisors to
me during the PhD program.
I remember when I first made
the transition to the current path,
I wasn't very confident about myself.
I didn't have access to all
the resources that I have right now.
But whenever I walked away from your
office, your patience with, and
passion for my immature proposal
gave me a lot of encouragement and
ensured that I was on the right track.
I could still feel the tension and
nerves I got whenever I received
a question by Eddie during
the seminar presentation.
And I also keep in mind the moments
when Kate read my paper word by word,
and helped me go through
every sentence of the paper.
I learned a lot from the whole process,
and
I'm really grateful that you're
willing to spend time on me,
challenge me and
help me grow into an independent scholar.
And help me find my competitive
advantage as a scholar.
Thank you for all of that.
[MUSIC]
>> Hi, Chloe, congratulations on
finishing your dissertation and
graduating from our PhD program.
This is truly a tremendous achievement and
I could not be happier for you.
Personally, you've been
a wonderful student and
I've always looked forward to
our meetings and conversations.
I will always remember your unbridled
enthusiasm, excitement for new ideas, and
your never ending desire to
tackle ambitious, creative, and
challenging projects.
Combine that with your great
taste in holiday destinations,
Parisian macaroons, gourmet tea, and
chocolate advent calendars, and you are by
far the most interesting and endearing
doctoral student I've ever counseled.
But more importantly, it has just been
such a pleasure to watch you grow and
develop into a competent, talented, and
determined individual who ultimately
achieved her academic aspirations.
Chloe, it has been a pleasure
to have served as your advisor.
You are one of a kind, and I am so
proud of you and your achievements.
Congratulations again,
and best of luck at MIT.
[MUSIC]
>> My principal advisor
is Joseph Piotroski.
And he's going to be really surprised
at the outpouring of positivity and
eloquence in this video.
Because 90% of my interactions
with Joe involve me in his office
in some horrific distress,
frankly, stuttering my way through
describing one problem after another.
But I'm happy that this is the interaction
that's going to be immortalized
because I have wanted to say these
words to Joe for quite long.
I know as a student,
I'm not particularly easy to love.
I am reticent, not extremely talented,
and often times quite proud.
But Joe understands me for me.
And he knows when I need more time
versus when I need more help.
And I know he worries and cares and
does more for me than he lets on.
So, here we are on graduation day.
For my outrageously classy advisor, I am
putting my best literary foot forward.
So this is for you, Joe.
I reckon there've been days I
make your hair stand on end, but
your support and
loyalty I shall never misspend.
Though you infinitely jest,
if I don't work, this is the end.
Nor the luck to be your student,
I could never comprehend.
It's only the beginning
that was strongly uptrend.
There's much adventure
just around the bend.
Tis the day of graduation.
So I'll say as I intend, thank you
from my heart, my advisor and friend.
[MUSIC]
>> Yang,
congratulations on receiving your PhD from
the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
I learned a great deal from your research
on the wealth management products,
corporate liquidity in Chinese firms,
and their impacts on the economy.
You can be very proud
of this dissertation.
I personally enjoyed working with you.
And I also will remain ever grateful for
the work you did as a teaching
assistant in Finance 207.
All best wishes for
success in your career.
>> Hi Yang, congratulations for
graduation from Stanford GSB.
Unfortunately, I can't
congratulate you in person, but
hopefully my enthusiasm will get across.
I really learned a lot talking to you
about research in these past many years.
Certainly learned a great deal
about how shadow banking and
liquidity works in China, and
the unintended consequences
of regulation that you've very
nicely showed in your dissertation.
I also enjoyed discussing the work
that you did with Denning,
where you're thinking about deposits and
the market power.
And not just thinking from the demand
side, but also from the supply side, and
how that changed the kind of inferences
that previous research had drawn.
So I'm thankful to you for
engaging with me on those fronts
over the last many years.
On the teaching side, as you know,
when I joined, you were my first TA.
We developed the materials for
the class 214 together.
And even though we taught that class for
just one year, and
then I subsequently moved to teaching
207 with Josh Rauh, you were again,
very instrumental there in
developing the material.
And I really thank you for
doing that throughout the years
that I've been here at Stanford.
But more generally,
I would like to just say a few
words that I really
appreciated your sincerity and
your dedication and hard work and
your never say die attitude.
Even when the chips were down and
things were not working out,
especially on the research front.
And these are qualities which I think will
hold you in great stead in your career.
And with that, I wish you all the best and
hope to stay in touch.
And congratulations again and
best of luck, bye bye.
[MUSIC]
>> In this short video, I want to
express my gratitude to my advisors for
the constant guidance and support.
I remember when I was stuck
with my dissertation,
Amit kept on encouraging me and
would always bring me back on track.
Over the last five years, he has not
only taught me research skills, but
also a positive attitude
towards goals in life.
And I certainly remember many
conversations with Arvind.
His suggestions are always insightful and
constructive.
And Josh and Shai introduced me to
the area of empirical corporate finance.
Laura, her suggestions on the research
writing was hugely beneficial.
Overall, I think their positive mind and
their
encouragement really brought strength
in me during my dissertation year.
>> Congratulations to the class of 2020.
To have completed your PhD, you have
created original and important research
that adds to our collective
knowledge of how the world works.
This is a remarkable achievement, and
you should be proud of your scholarship.
Research is hard.
Long periods where nothing works out,
going down paths that
lead you to dead ends.
I know all of you at different times have
questioned the path you are following, but
just as suddenly,
research gives you an answer.
You find something, then another thing,
and your research comes together.
You have created knowledge and
you've written your dissertation.
The road is hard, and that makes your
accomplishment all the more sweet.
You're leaving Stanford in an unusual and
uncertain time.
But you should know that your experience
here at Stanford will always be with you.
You've accomplished so much already, and
I'm sure you will be prepared to tackle
whatever challenge comes your way.
I wish you all the best.
Congratulations again.
[MUSIC]
[MUSIC]
Congratulations, class of 2020.
>> [APPLAUSE]
>> It
is wonderful to see the student experience
brought to life through photos.
During your new student orientation many
years ago, I told the students two things.
One, you are not an admissions mistake.
And two, no one gets through a PHD alone.
My request to you at this time is to
please think of everyone who helped you
with this wonderful accomplishment.
It might be your family.
It might be your friends or
partner who provided encouragement and
emotional support.
It might be your adviser or
fellow students who helps you think
through parts of your research.
It might be an undergraduate professor,
who took an extra interest in you and
inspired you to do doctoral work.
Please thank these people.
If they are in your COVID bubble,
give them a hug.
If they aren't, have a Zoom session or
send them an email.
Thank you, everyone for watching.
This is a good luck but not a goodbye.
We sent you a gift of a regalia hood for
you to celebrate today and
as an invite to return to the GSB for
our in person commencement one day.
Congratulations to
the class of 2020,
until we meet again.
