Research Opportunities

About the Program

The Mack Institute provides fellowships for students and early-career researchers interested in innovation management, including:

• A two-year predoctoral program for recent graduates
• Semester-long research assistantships for current Wharton and Penn students
• Occasional sponsorship for postdoctoral students

Research Assistantships

Current Wharton and Penn students can work closely with faculty and funded researchers on topics relevant to current innovation challenges. Participants strengthen their analytical, decision-making, and leadership skills while gaining research and practical experience.

The Mack Institute offers fellowships for both individuals and teams throughout the academic year. Students interested in participating will take part in an application process.

Recent Project Topics

• Generative AI and Creativity
• Commercialization of Healthcare Technology
• Supply Chain Management
• Corporate Venturing
• Innovation Ecosystems
• Health and Performance of Open-Source Software (OSS) Communities
• Electric and Autonomous Vehicles

Mack Predoctoral Fellowship

Through the predoctoral program, recent undergraduates receive sponsorship to work closely with Wharton professors on research projects. Fellowships last two years and are based on Wharton’s Philadelphia campus. The program is ideal for students aiming to strengthen their academic and research credentials before applying to competitive Ph.D. programs.

Current Predoctoral Fellows

• Angela Fan

  Angela Fan works with Professors Henning Piezunka and Saerom (Ronnie) Lee. She previously studied behavioral economics and behavioral decision-making at Carnegie Mellon University and UCLA Anderson School of Management.

• Prakhar Saxena

  Prakhar Saxena is a Predoctoral Research Fellow at the Mack Institute, where he works with Professors Alp Sungu and Neha Sharma in the Operations, Information and Decisions department at Wharton. He works on projects examining the impact of generative AI in education and online communities, with a broader interest in the adoption and effects of generative AI in firms. He received a B.S. in Mathematics and a B.A. in Economics (with a specialization in Data Science) from the University of Chicago. Outside of academia, he enjoys philosophy, hip hop, and soccer.

• Linnea Tix

  Linnea Tix is working with Professors Emilie Feldman and Paul Nary in the Management Department at Wharton. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Managerial Economics from Union College in New York, where she developed a research project examining the effect of population aging on income inequality in the United States. At Wharton, she supports research on corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions.

Former Predoctoral Fellows

• Christina Tong, Working in industry
• Hejia (Ellie) Liu, PhD Candidate at UMN Carlson School of Management
• Xinbo (Steve) Bao, PhD Candidate at USC
• Danial Syed, Working in industry
• Yuyang Wang, PhD Candidate at UChicago
• Shreya Mathur
• Juan Andrés Russy, PhD Candidate at MIT