Research Opportunities in Business:

The following faculty members from the Bauer College of Business are interested in working with undergraduates in affiliation with the PURS Spring 2008 program (deadline November 28th) or the SURF 2008 program (deadline March 26th).  If you are interested in any of the available research opportunities, please contact the faculty member directly to attain more information. 

• Dr. Betsy D. Gelb, Department of Marketing & Entrepreneurship, would like to work with a student with an interest in cognitive psychology and, ideally, gerontology as well.  This student will work with Dr. Gelb to test approaches to “cognitive exercise” in older persons who cannot see well enough to undertake the usual suggestions like crossword puzzles.  An older person has volunteered to have the selected student visit her weekly for several weeks (she is a retired librarian with considerable background in clinical psychology) to “try out” everything from exercises with “right answers” to exercises involving creativity.  Please contact Dr. Gelb for more information (gelb@uh.edu, 713-743-4558).

• Dr. James Hess, Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, would like to host an undergraduate researcher with an interest in web-based marketing and customized products. Specifically, this student will be working with Dr. Hess to identify customized products sold by online retailers and to perform data analysis of factors that lead to the use of mass-customization. Students should have good computer skills and know basic statistical analysis.  Please contact Dr. Hess for more information (jhess@uh.edu , 713-743-4175).

• Dr. Jacqueline Kacen and James Hess, Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship are seeking a student with interest in consumer behavior to work on a research project on shopping lists.  Consumers construct different types of shopping list to assist managing their home inventories of grocery products.  The project will involve gathering information from shoppers on what they include on their shopping lists, how they use the lists while in the store, and why they rely on pre-planning of their purchases rather than making impulse buys.  Interested students should contact Dr. Kacen (jkacen@uh.edu, 713-743-4174) or Dr. Hess (jhess@uh.edu, 713-743-4175).

• Dr. Partha Krishnamurthy, Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship asks, “How do people choose between attractive products, and how does it differ from choosing between unattractive products?  Does having a mental quota for a behavior actually affect one’s actual behavior (e.g., I should eat no more than two desserts every week)? What influences the happiness people derive from consuming products?” If you are curious about questions such as these that focus on consumers and their behavior, and wish to work on research projects, please contact Dr. Krishnamurthy at partha@uh.edu, 713-74-4576.

• Dr. Jill Sundie, Department of Marketing & Entrepreneurship, offers opportunities to gain experience doing consumer behavior research. Her work focuses on a number of consumer psychology topics, including motivations for conspicuous consumption, emotions consumers experience, such as envy and schadenfreude (feeling happy when something bad happens to someone else), social influence in consumer behavior, and persuasion. She also does work on the evolutionary psychology of consumer behavior. Students studying business and psychology, as well as students from other related departments, are welcome to inquire about projects of mutual interest.  Please contact Dr. Sundie at jsundie@uh.edu, 713-743-4166.