About Principal Investigator

Anshu Arora, PhD, PMP
Associate Professor – Marketing (Tenured)
Director – NSF Funded Logistics & International Trade (LIT) Analytics Center of Excellence
School of Business and Public Administration
University of the District of Columbia
NSF Researcher and PI – #1912070

NSF Researcher (SMARTER Research) – #2100934

Social Robotics Researcher @ UDC

WINNER of the “Outstanding Achievement Award – Technology Rising Star” at 2022 Women of Color (WOC) STEM DTX Conference, Oct. 7, 2022, Detroit, MI

Research Fellow, Georgia Tech Center for International Business Education & Research (GT-CIBER), Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

Research on Social Robotics & HRI  

Senior Editor – Marketing, International Journal of Emerging Markets

Series Editor – International Marketing and Management Research, Palgrave Publications, UK

Biography

Anshu Saxena Arora, Ph.D., PMP is the Tenured Associate Professor of Marketing at the School of Business and Public Administration, University of the District of Columbia (UDC), Washington, DC. She is the Founding Director of the National Science Foundation Funded Logistics & International Trade (LIT) Analytics Center of Excellence at the University of the District of Columbia. Dr. Arora works on many active research grants, especially from the National Science Foundation (NSF), of which the most noteworthy is her individual Faculty Research Initiation Award (RIA) by NSF titled Social Motivation Approach for Rehabilitation Through Educational Robotics (SMARTER) research targeted at students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other cognitive / learning disabilities at high schools and universities in Washington, DC (https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100934&HistoricalAwards=false) (for $299,982.00). The overarching goal of the SMARTER research is to obtain new scientific knowledge on social, cognitive and behavioral relationships in educational robotics using social motivation approach for managing learning/cognitive disabilities, social interaction difficulties, and developmental disorders (e.g., Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD) in the high District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), and the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) in Washington, DC. Dr. Arora is the Senior Editor for Marketing Area for the International Journal of Emerging Markets (IJoEM) published by Emerald Publications, United Kingdom (http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/editorial_team.htm?id=ijoem). She is the Series Editor for International Marketing and Management Research published by Palgrave Macmillan Publications, UK, and she has published nine volumes with the recent 2022 book titled Managing Social Robotics and Socio-Cultural Business Norms: Parallel Worlds of Emerging AI and Human Virtues (https://www.palgrave.com/in/series/14845). She has published more than 50 research papers in national and international journals of repute, and has presented about 65 papers in national and international conferences.

Research Interests

Dr. Arora’s research interests and expertise include consumer behavior, social / consumer responses to technology, social-educational-ethical robotics, human-robot interaction (HRI), social media marketing, digital marketing, social media strategy mix and social media measurement, stereotypical advertising polysemy, innovative experiential learning pedagogies, relational supply chain management strategy relationships, and project management.

Teaching

• MKTG 304 – Introduction to Marketing Management
• MKTG 308 – International Marketing
• MKTG 404 – Marketing Research
• MKTG 408 – Advertising and Promotion Management
• MKTG 312 – Social Media Marketing
• BGMT 308 – Entrepreneurship
• MKTG 507 – Marketing Strategy (MBA Course)
• MKTG 514 – International Marketing Management (MBA Course)

Grants and Awards

1. 2021 – 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Researcher and Principal Investigator – #2100934 – NSF Research Initiation Award: Social Motivation Approach for Rehabilitation Through Educational Robotics (SMARTER) research ($299,982.00) – https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100934&HistoricalAwards=false

Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty for building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing research programs. The overarching goal of the Social Motivation Approach for Rehabilitation Through Educational Robotics (SMARTER) research is to obtain new scientific knowledge on social, cognitive and behavioral relationships in educational robotics using social motivation approach for managing learning/cognitive disabilities, social interaction difficulties, and developmental disorders (e.g., Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD) through robotic interventions and human-robot interaction (HRI) field experiments in the middle and high District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), and the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) in Washington, DC.

2. 2021 – 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Researcher and Principal Investigator – #2106411 – NSF Catalyst Award: STEM-Business Focused Sustainable Financial Technology – Clean Technology (Sustainable FinTech-CleanTech) at the University of the District of Columbia ($199,997.00) – https://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2106411&HistoricalAwards=false

Catalyst Projects provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities to work towards establishing the research capacity of faculty to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics undergraduate education and research. The overarching goal of the Sustainable FinTech-CleanTech project at the UDC is to introduce and provide Business and Engineering undergraduate students at UDC with an innovative and interdisciplinary “Sustainable FinTech-CleanTech” certificate program available to both Business as well as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) majors.

3. 2019 – 2023 National Science Foundation (NSF) Researcher and Principal Investigator – #1912070 HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project: STEM-Business Focused Logistics and International Trade (LIT) Analytics ($399,967.00) –

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1912070&HistoricalAwards=false2018

The project at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) establishes the Logistics and International Trade (LIT) Analytics Center, foster research, and conduct outreach to the broader DC community. Specific objectives of the project are to:(1) develop an innovative STEM-Business focused LIT minor degree program; (2) enrich the undergraduate student and faculty research experiences within the LIT curriculum through creation of an interdisciplinary summer research program; and (3) increase the enrollment and retention rate of UDC students across business and STEM programs by engaging students in the LIT program through outreach to local high schools and the UDC community college, as well by offering a Study Abroad (United Kingdom) program. This suite of activities will empower and transform students as leaders in the 21st Century workforce. 

4. 2019 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) I-Corps Program Grant – Project: ROBOTIC INTERVENTIONS FOR LEARNING (https://innovation.mit.edu/resource/mit-i-corps/)

The I-Corps Spark Program at MIT is a 3-week program with grant value of $1,500 to help researchers and engineers explore the potential applications of their new technologies for a future NSF SBIR proposal. Program Kick-Off Workshop – May 22, 2019 and Closing Workshop – June 18, 2019; Location: MIT Campus. The interactive course began with kickoff workshops on MIT Campus where teams learn how to:

• Identify their top customer segments through Business Model Canvas (BMC) framework;
• Find and effectively interview potential customers about their problems/needs through customer discovery interviews; and
• The program wrapped-up with final workshops on MIT Campus where teams present their findings, get more coaching, and learn about progressing their ideas.

5. 2017 – 2024 Faculty Research Fellow, Georgia Tech Center for International Business Education and Research, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

• Arora A.S., Arora, A., Sivakumar K., McIntyre, J. R. (2023) “Robotic Interventions for Learning (ROB-I-LEARN): Examining Social Robotics for Learning Disabilities through Business Model Canvas”.
• Arora, A. & Arora, A. S. (2020) “Global Value Chains’ Disaggregation through Supply Chain Collaboration, Market Turbulence, and Performance Outcomes”.
• Arora, A. S. & Arora, A. (2019) “Social Media Spatial Imagery and Interpersonal Closeness: Analyzing Consumer Dispositions Toward Doppelgängers, Xenocentrism, and Word-of-Mouth”.
• Arora, A. & Arora, A. S. (2017) “Culture’s Impact on Consumer Responses to Visual versus Verbal Anthropomorphism: The Influence of Uncertainty Avoidance and Ethnocentrism”.

6. VentureWell Grant (2019- 2021) for $10,000 (Co-Principal Investigator)

Course and Program Planning grant – Developing Global Supply Chain Innovation Concentration with a Focus on Sustainability and Entrepreneurship at the University of the District of Columbia

Duration: February 1, 2019 to August 31, 2021

7. 2016 – 2022 Best X-Culture Instructor Awards – Sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Selected as the Top 30 professors of X-Culture project out of a group of 170+ instructors and co-instructors teaching at 130+ universities in 60+ countries across 6 continents whose students took part in the X-Culture competition – https://x-culture.org

X-Culture Project: Sponsored by University of North Carolina Greensboro, every semester, thousands of students and professionals from over 100+ countries take part in X-Culture competition. For several months, they work together on real-life business projects presented by the corporate partners. They compete, collaborate through online and social media platforms, learn the best practices of international business consulting, and overcome challenges related to language, cultural differences, and online learning to be successful in X-Culture (www.x-culture.org).

8. 2017 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence
   2017 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence for our research titled Relationships among supply chain strategies, organizational performance, and technological and market turbulences published in Emerald’s The International Journal of Logistics Management (co-authored with Dr. Amit Arora from UDC and Dr. K. Sivakumar from Lehigh University) — selected by the journal’s editorial team as a Highly Commended Paper in the 2017 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence.

9. TITLE III GRANT from the US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION for $ 84, 662 (Effective October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013)

10. TITLE III GRANT from the US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION for $ 57,000 (Effective October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012)

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR for the Project titled: ENHANCING THE GLOBAL LOGISTICS AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS EDUCATION RESEARCH (G-LIBER) CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

11. ADVERTISING GRANT from ADVERTISING EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION (AEF)
    WINNER of AEF’s Visiting Professor Program (VPP) 2010: 14 proposals selected out of a pool of 64 Professor Applicants – Worked in “Young and Rubicam (Y&R)” advertising agency, New York under AEF Grant during July 12 to July 23, 2010; New York City, Ney York. In 2010, 14 professors were hosted by advertising agencies in Chicago, and New York City. AEF had arranged for Professors’ visits to advertising agencies – Young & Rubicam (Y&R), JWT, R/GA, McCann Erickson, Universal McCann, Publicis, Saatchi & Saatchi, BBDO, and Ogilvy & Mather. Knowledge Sharing: Presented research titled “Building Global Brand equity through Advertising: Developing a Conceptual Framework of Managing Global Brand equity,” with Y&R.

12. Nomination for Best Ph. D. thesis – ANNUAL EMERALD OUTSTANDING DOCTORAL RESEARCH AWARDS in the field of Internet Technology and Marketing

Service (Reviewer and Editorial Responsibilities)

• 2021-2023 SPECIAL ISSUE EDITOR, Sustainability Journal (Impact Factor: 2.592)
• Special Issue “Sustainable Innovation Trends and Global Value Chains in Emerging Markets”–https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/innovation_trends_global_value_chains

• 2018-23 SPECIAL ISSUE EDITOR, Emerald’s International Journal of Emerging Markets (IJoEM) 

• Value Chain Innovations in Digital, Social Media, and Mobile (DSMM) Commerce – 2019 SPECIAL ISSUE – will be in press during 2020.
• Global Value Chains, International Trade, and Markets: The Role of Emerging Economies – 2019 SPECIAL ISSUE – will be in press during 2020.
• Sustainability, institutions, and internationalization in emerging markets: role of sustainable innovation for sustainable world development – 2017 SPECIAL ISSUE – Volume 12, Issue 1
• SENIOR EDITOR – Marketing, Emerald’s International Journal of Emerging Markets (IJoEM), http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/editorial_team.htm?id=ijoem
  • Working as the Senior Editor – Marketing Area since 2015 until present.
• 2015 – 2016 SPECIAL ISSUE EDITOR, Emerald’s International Journal of Emerging Markets (IJoEM), http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=5254

Co-editors: Dr. Nicole Hartley, University of Queensland Business School, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

• NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) Reviewer for SBIR Phase I and II Panels|
  
  The fundamental mission of NSF is to promote discoveries and to advance education across the frontiers of knowledge in science and engineering. Consistent with that mission, NSF encourages and supports a wide range of proposals from the research and education community and also from the private small business sector.

• Editor – INTERNATIONAL MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT RESEARCH (IMMR) Series with Palgrave Macmillan currently headquartered in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom and has offices in New York, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, Delhi, and Johannesburg (https://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14845). IMMR Series invite papers from Faculty and Student joint research, self-sustained faculty research, and strategic viewpoints from industry.

Recent Research Publications

1. Anshu Saxena Arora, Amit Arora, K. Sivakumar, & John R. McIntyre. (2023). Robotic Interventions for Learning (ROB-I-LEARN): Examining Social Robotics for Learning Disabilities through Business Model Canvas. In the Companion of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI ’23 Companion), March 13-16, 2023, Stockholm, Sweden. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 6 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3568294.3580088.
2. Arora, A. S. Editor (2022), International Marketing and Management Research Journal Series, Managing Social Robotics and Socio-Cultural Business Norms – Parallel Worlds of Emerging AI and Human Virtues, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-04867-8, Guest Editors: Sabine Bacuoel-Jentjens, ISC Paris, France, Amit Arora and Dean Mohamad Sepehri, School of Business and Public Administration, University of the District of Columbia, USA, and John McIntyre, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA, Palgrave Macmillan – Springer Nature, United Kingdom (https://link.springer.com/series/14845).
3. Arora, Anshu S., Parnell, C., and Arora, Amit (2022). Applying Service-Dominant Logic and Conversation Management Principles to Social Robotics for Autism Spectrum Disorder. International Journal of Intelligent Information Technologies, Accepted for Publication, January 2022.
4. Arora, Anshu S., Sivakumar, K., & Pavlou, P. A. (2021). Social capacitance: Leveraging absorptive capacity in the age of social media. Journal of Business Research, 124, 342-356, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.11.035, (ABDC List Ranking: ‘A+’)[1].
5. Arora, A., Arora, Anshu S., Anyu, J., McIntyre, J. R. (2021). Global Value Chains’ Disaggregation through Supply Chain Collaboration, Market Turbulence, and Performance Outcomes. Sustainability2021, 13(8), 4151; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084151 (https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4151), Impact Factor:251 (2020); 5-Year Impact Factor: 3.473 (2020).
6. Arora, A., Arora, Anshu S., Anyu, J., McIntyre, J. R. (2021). Editorial – Special Issue: Sustainable Innovation Trends and Global Value Chains in Emerging Markets. Sustainability2021, 13(8); https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084151 (https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4151), Impact Factor:251 (2020); 5-Year Impact Factor: 3.473 (2020).
7. Arora, A. S., Fleming, M., Arora, A., Taras, V., & Xu, J. (2021). Finding “H” in HRI: Examining Human Personality Traits, Robotic Anthropomorphism, and Robot Likeability in Human-Robot Interaction. International Journal of Intelligent Information Technologies, 17(1), 19-38 (ABDC List Ranking: ‘B’).
8. Arora, A.S., Arora, A.and Khajeheian, D. (2021), “Guest editorial”, International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOEM-01-2021-990, (ABDC List Ranking: ‘B’).
9. Arora, Anshu S., & Brown-Gaston, R. (2021). War and Peace: Ethical Challenges and Risks in Military Robotics. International Journal of Intelligent Information Technologies, 17(3), pp. 1-12, (ABDC List Ranking: ‘B’).

10. Arora, A. S., Editor (2021), International Marketing and Management Research Journal Series, https://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14845, Toward Behavioral Transaction Cost Economics, George Z. Peng authored, Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature Group, United Kingdom.
11. Arora, A., Arora, A. S., Sivakumar, K., & Burke, G. (2020). Strategic sustainable purchasing, environmental collaboration, and organizational sustainability performance: the moderating role of supply base size. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 25(6), July 6, 2020 (ABDC List Ranking: ‘A’).
12. Arora, Anshu S., & Arora, A. (2020). The Race between Cognitive and Artificial Intelligence: Examining Socio-Ethical Collaborative Robots through Anthropomorphism and Xenocentrism in HRI. International Journal of Intelligent Information Technologies, 16(1), pp. 1-16 (ABDC List Ranking: ‘B’).
13. Arora, Anshu S., and Nicole Hartley (2020), Guest editorial – Global Value Chains, International Trade, and Markets: The Role of Emerging Economies, International Journal of Emerging Markets, 15 Issue 1 pp. 1-3, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOEM-02-2020-603.
14. Arora, Anshu S., & Arora, A. (2019). The Race between Cognitive and Artificial Intelligence: Examining Socio-Ethical Collaborative Robots through Anthropomorphism and Xenocentrism in HRI. International Journal of Intelligent Information Technologies, accepted for publication (ABDC Journal List Ranking: ‘B’).
15. Arora, A. S., Arora, A., & Taras, V. (2019). The moderating role of culture in social media-based spatial imagery, consumer xenocentrism, and word-of-mouth for global virtual teams. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 1470595819856379 (ABDC Journal List Ranking: ‘B’).
16. Arora, A., Arora, Anshu S., McIntyre, J. R., & Ayala, C. (2019). International Business Risk Comprehension Word Mapping Game Using LinkedIn Social Media Platform in Interdisciplinary Business Education. Journal of International Business Education, Volume 13 (ABDC Journal List Ranking: ‘B’).
17. Arora, Anshu S., & Sanni, S. A. (2018). Ten Years of ‘Social Media Marketing’ Research in the Journal of Promotion Management: Research Synthesis, Emerging Themes, and New Directions.Journal of Promotion Management, 1-24 (ABDC Journal List Ranking: ‘B’).
18. Baddley, J., Arora, A., Arora, A., McIntyre, J. R., Molthan-Hill, P., & Leseane, R. (2018). Sustainable competitiveness: powering ‘sustainability’ through Investors in the Environment initiative at Riverside Bakery. CSR and Climate Change Implications for Multinational Enterprises, 162.

[1] UDC School of Business and Public Administration is pursuing the prestigious AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation. For measuring impact of faculty scholarly contributions, Australian Business Deans’ Council (ABDC) lists are recommended for high-quality and high-impact publications – http://bized.aacsb.edu/articles/2015/11/preparing-for-impact