The World’s Best 40 Under 40 Business School Professors by: Andrea Carter and Ethan Baron on April 17, 2015 | | 82,665 Views April 17, 2015 Copy Link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Share on LinkedIn Share on WhatsApp Share on Reddit Up, up, and away:Ā Poets&Quants‘ 40 Under 40 top business school professors Business school professors come in all stripes and colors. But the very best of the lot share a few common qualities: They are all supremely well educated, highly talented researchers, exceptional teachers, and, perhaps most important of all, they inspire students and their students inspire them. With these qualities in mind, Poets&Quants has compiled its 2015 list of the very best business school professors under 40. Winning an Ig Nobel Prize is not enough to get a spot on this list. Neither is taking students to the Amazon. Or getting a class to show up wearing beer helmets. Or having your research featured on the John Oliver show. Or applying neuroscience to the negotiating process. But all of those things help. Whatās required to get onto this list is the full package: excellence in research, combined with world-class teaching prowess. We put out a call for nominations and readers responded in a major way. More than 100 nominations were submitted and weāve narrowed it down to the top 40. These young up-and-comers can beĀ as hilarious as they are brilliant (take UCLAās Danny Oppenheimer who is currently winning a bet 5-2 on whether he can manage to sneak the strangest citations through peer-review each year, or Sternās Deepak Hegde, who claims he hurt himselfĀ milking a cow) and as humble as they are popular (consider Loyola Marymount business professor Angelica Gutierrez who has received several awards and recognition for her mission to increase diversity within business schools, or INSEADās Jennifer Petriglieri, whose teaching delivers knowledge alongĀ with valuable personal development). Some have racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money to fund their research while others have penned books, spoken before Congress and won prize after prize after prize TEACHING THE LEADERS OF THE FUTURE As much as their research, expertise–even geographical locations–vary, the 2015 40 Under 40 all share the same commitment to producing the next great generation of business leaders. In facing such an enormous task, theyāve shared with us the best and worst parts of being a professor. Our top 40 tell us that some of the pros to the job are tying research to the real world, debating with clever students, the always-popular āahaā moments shown by students once theyāve grabbed ahold of a tough concept, and getting to know the students on a personal level. As for the least favorite part; well, letās just say most are in agreement that theyād happily forego grading if they could. As one professor puts it āGrading and paperwork. Nobody likes grading or paperwork.ā And if these top young business professors werenāt business professors? Well, youād get some marine biologists, and some home renovators, a chef, and, if the Katz Schoolās Cait Lamberton is to be believed, possibly one āfairly untalented poet.ā In this list, youāll learn what, and who, inspires the top young professors of todayās business schools. Youāll find out what makes them proud, which books, movies, and TV shows they love, what music they listen to, where they go on vacation. Youāll learn about their most memorable moments at school, and what made them decide to become teachers. Youāll see where each professor earned their degrees, and find out what classes they currently teach. SIMILAR JOBS,Ā VERY, VERY DIFFERENT PEOPLE Whatās remarkable about this list is not what these professors share – obviously theyāre all extremely intelligent, hard-working, and dedicated to their professional work – but what distinguishes them one from another. Yael Hochberg at the Jones School is a rock climber; Villanovaās Jeremy Kees was a college basketball star. Craig Garthwaite at Kellogg, if he werenāt a professor, would be a policy wonk; Harvardās Francesca Gino would be a race-car driver. Maria Mason, at Columbia, names A Fish Called Wanda her favorite movie, while Mushfiq Mubarak at Yale is a fan of Slumdog Millionaire. For vacations, INSEADās Petriglieri favors a certain stretch of road in Switzerland, while MITās Cynthia Rudin adores the vineyards, coastlines, and islands of New Zealandās Marlborough Sound. Oppenheimer at UCLA gave us such a vague answer on the vacation question that we suspect he just stays home and watches his favorite TV program, The Muppet Show. And as interesting it is to compare these professors to each other and chalk up similarities and differences, itās even more fascinating to discover the diversity of interests within each. Kelloggās Lauren Rivera teaches management and operations, but sheās also a trained sommelier who rocks out to ā80s power ballads but dances to jazz. Guillaume Roels of UCLA bakes his own bread every night – when he isnāt climbing mountains or running marathons. Babsonās Vikki Rodgers is a dedicated conservationist . . . who loves to watch The Walking Dead. Panos Patatoukas at Berkeley is a keen cook, has five degrees, takes immense pride in his Greek heritage, and listens to hip hop. Beyond what these profs say about themselves, youāll hear what their students have to say as well. Youāll discover which professor peels back a studentās argument like an onion, and which handed out T-shirts to her whole class. Youāll see which professor conducts blind taste tests in class, which professor is so tall that front-row students get a crick in their necks, and which professor can keep his class riveted by his āpassion for zero coupon bonds.ā EMPHASIS ON TEACHING AND RESEARCH EXCELLENCE Fortunately for Lamberton of Katz (and probably some others), Poets&Quants didnāt include the ability to produce scintillating verse in our methodology for selecting the top 40 Under 40. We based our calculations on indicators related to the primary areas of teaching and research. We factored in student feedback, awards and honors, quantity and reach of research, public speaking, and educational qualifications. And after we selected the top 40 Under 40, we sent them questionnaires, so they could open up and tell us, and you, all about their lives and work. They were remarkably forthcoming (a root beer collection, Neil Malhotra, really?), and often surprising (out of compassion, weāre not going to draw undue attention to the professor who absolutely must listen to Britney Spears when she writes – youāll have to find that bit for yourselves). NEXT PAGE: Poets&Quants‘ 40 Under 40 list (alphabetical) with links to individual features Continue ReadingPage 1 of 2 1 2 Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.