Hi there! On this page you can learn a bit more about your OCIS blog team.
Chris Maurer 
is a PhD student in Management Information Systems at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. In 2003,he earned a bachelors degree from the University of Georgia,majoring in Management Information Systems. Prior to beginning his doctoral studies,Chris was employed by KPMG and TRX,Inc. performing various internal audit,disaster recovery,and information security responsibilities. Chris’ current research interests include information system agility and information security. Outside of his professional and academic career,Chris is a swimmer and triathlete. He was a member of the University of Georgia Men’s Varsity Swim Team and has completed two Ironman triathlons.
Rose Erkelens is a PhD student at the faculty of Economics and Business Administration,VU University Amsterdam,where she graduated in Business Administration and Knowledge Management in 2008. Rose is conducting research on knowledge management in global R&D initiatives. The central issue of the research is the integration of expert and process knowledge in distributed research and development,primarily in high-tech organizations. Currently,Rose is interested in studying the management of dispersed R&D projects,transfer of knowledge across boundaries,micro-level research to managing knowledge and innovation,and the influence of social identity in groups on knowledge sharing and creation. She is a member of the Knowledge,Information,and Networks-Research group (KIN) at the VU University Amsterdam.
Jeremiah Johnson is a former OCIS student representative,and is starting his 5th year in the Ph.D. program in the Marshall School at USC. Before returning to school,Jeremiah worked as a Systems Analyst at SAIC,contracted to Sandia National Laboratories. His research interests include virtual teams,conflict and compromise,open source development,identity,games,and security technology. In his off time,he enjoys working on cars,chasing down new places to eat in LA,and compulsively reading internet news.
Valerie Bartelt 
is a PhD student in the Operations and Decision Techonlogies department of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business program. She completed her term as a student representative-at-large for the AOM/OCIS division in 2010. She has worked as a consultant for Option Six,developing e-learning interactive media components for companies including Microsoft,Eli Lilly,Roche,and Hewlett-Packard. Currently,Valerie is interested in researching virtual worlds,collaboration technologies,and work-life balance issues.
Ben Collier 
is a PhD student doing research in the intersection of Organizational Behavior and Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to academic life Ben worked as a software developer and later a project manager. He received his MBA at the University of Wisconsin with an emphasis in Information Systems in 2007 and moved east to Pittsburgh to begin his doctoral program. His research interests are in socialization,promotion,and organizational learning on online organizations as well as the impact of embedding online transactions into social systems. His current research explores these questions within the context of Wikipedia,Prosper.com,and Open Source Software.
Jeff Cummings 
is a PhD student in the Operations and Decision Technologies department of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in Bloomington,Indiana. He received his undergraduate and MBA in Management Information Systems at Texas Tech University. Prior to being in the doctoral program,Jeff worked in the utility industry as a systems specialist and was involved in programming,system analysis/design,and project management. His current research interests include emergent/innovative technologies,group coordination/collaboration and virtual teams.
Marco Marabelli
works as a research assistant at CeTIF (Research Center on Technology,Innovation,and Finance) and is a PhD student in Management at the Cattolica University of Milan. His advisor is Prof Federico Rajola. His research focuses on innovation and knowledge management. Marco Marabelli has had articles published in international journals on IT capabilities and the competitive advantage of alignment between IS and business. He serves as a reviewer for some of the most important world conferences on IS management,such as the Academy of Management World Conference (AOM),and the International Conference of Information Systems (ICIS). He is currently a visiting scholar at Bentley College,Waltham,MA,USA where he is developing his PhD dissertation with Prof Sue Newell on absorptive capacity and organizational learning in the post implementation phase of ERPs. His teaching activities include Organizational Theories and IS Management courses.
Yukika Awazu 
is a PhD student and Henry E. Rauch Doctoral Fellow in the Information and Process Management department at Bentley College,MA,USA. Currently,she serves as a student representative-at-large for the AOM/OCIS division. Her research interests are organizational networking,management of innovation,the social/practical aspects of knowledge management,distributed work,emergent technologies,and strategic issues with information systems. In the past,she has worked for organizations in the United States and Japan.
