7 Professors Join HEC Paris in 2021, with a Focus on AI

A total of seven new professors have reinforced the ranks of HEC’s world-class academic staff. Allow us to introduce you to the seven arriving on campus: Yann Algan, Pablo M. Baquero, Julien Grand-Clément, Armin Steinbach, Klaus M. Miller, Matthew Yeaton and Aluna Wang. Five of them are affiliated with Hi! PARIS, the Center on Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence for Science, Business and Society.

Yann Algan was a professor of economics and Dean of the School of Public Affairs at Sciences Po Paris. He now joins HEC Paris as Associate Dean for the Pre-experience Program. As a researcher, Yann works on collaborative economy, populism, trust, well-being, and the evaluation of public policies, especially in the fields of education, employment, and management politics. He is also studying digital transformations in politics. Yann also remains a member of the French Economic Analysis Council (“Conseil d’analyse économique”) that advises France’s Prime Minister. He has just published a research article on trust in scientists in times of pandemic.

Aluna Wang is Assistant Professor at the Accounting and Management Control Department and is affiliated with the Hi! PARIS Center. She received her PhD and MSc in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University, where she used to be PwC Presidential Fellow at the Digital Transformation and Innovation Center. Her research endeavors feature two major themes. One theme is to examine how information transmission mechanisms in the financial market, such as public disclosures and lending relationships, affect real economic outcomes. The other is to develop and deploy machine-learning based tools to improve our understanding of accounting data and provide intelligent solutions to real-world challenges facing financial service professionals in our rapidly changing digital landscape. 

Pablo M. Baquero is Assistant Professor in the Tax and Law Department and is affiliated with the Hi! PARIS Center. Pablo conducts research on artificial intelligence and legal issues concerning ethical innovation. He recently published his first book “Networks of Collaborative Contracts for Innovation”, examining how companies willing to pursue collaborative innovation projects structure their contractual agreements. He also investigates how the “black box” of algorithms could be designed to comply with law and regulations. Pablo holds a PhD in Law from the University of Cambridge, a LL.M. from Harvard Law School and a LL.B. from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He used to work as a lawyer in France and in Brazil, dealing with commercial arbitration, contractual transactions, and foreign investments. He has also been a consultant for the Doing Business Project by the World Bank of Washington DC.

Julien Grand-Clément is Assistant Professor in the Information Systems & Operations Management Department and is affiliated with the Hi! PARIS Center. He conducts research on medical decisions automation using machine learning and optimization. Julien completed his PhD with the IEOR (Industrial Engineering and Operations Research) Department at Columbia University in 2021, and his M.Sc. at Ecole Polytechnique (Paris) in 2016. His latest collaborations include robust allocations of beds in intensive care units with hospitals in California and interpretable ventilator allocation guidelines for hospitals in New York City. 

Klaus M. Miller is Assistant Professor at the Marketing Department and is affiliated with the Hi! PARIS Center. He teaches Quantitative Marketing and Artificial Intelligence in Marketing. Klaus’ research explores pricing, advertising, and customer management issues in the digital economy. He often collaborates with the industry to answer research questions at scale. Currently, his work is mainly focused on data privacy, fairness, and the monetization of digital content. Specifically, he answers the question: does it pay to be fair? His research indicates that exploiting customers’ biases may backfire in the long term due to customer retaliation; and that being fair (not exploiting the biases) is even more profitable for firms over time. Klaus also investigates the best way businesses can use online ads, or another source of revenue, while preserving data privacy. This research calls for finding new forms of monetization for digital content beyond online advertising.

Armin Steinbach is Professor of Law and Economics, European Law and International Law at HEC Paris. He is also Research Affiliate at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn. Armin worked for over ten years as a government official in the German Ministries of Finance and of Economic and Energy Affairs and as ministerial secondment in the German parliament. His research aims at bridging academic research and policy making. He obtained his Habilitation from the University of Bonn, for which he was awarded the Science Prize of the German Society of Legislation. Armin also holds a Doctor of Law from University of Munich, a Doctor of Economics from University of Erfurt, a Master of Law from Free University of Brussels and a Master in Economics from Humboldt University, in Berlin.

Matthew Yeaton is Assistant Professor in the Strategy and Business Policy Department and is affiliated with the Hi! PARIS Center. He obtained his PhD in Management from Columbia University. As a strategy scholar and computational social scientist, Matthew uses AI tools such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze language and culture in social networks in order to understand how cultures and knowledge are transferred. For example, he investigates how network interventions can disrupt hate speech online without resorting to banning users.