Biography

Pallab Sanyal is currently a PhD candidate in Information and Decision Sciences at the Carlson School of Management. He earned an MBA degree from the Carlson School in 2002, majoring in Finance and Information Systems. Prior to joining Carlson School, he earned a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree in Computer Science and Technology from what is now Bengal Engineering and Science University, India. Pallab has spent close to a decade in the information technology (IT) services industry, consulting in India, Singapore, the UK, and the USA on software development projects.

Background: “Following my bachelors in Computer Science, I started my career in the rapidly growing software industry in India. Over the next nine years, I consulted for companies in Asia, Europe, and the US to help them build robust databases, create object-oriented models for business applications, and develop sophisticated e-commerce applications using state-of-the-art technologies. I learned a lot about the management of technology from the Y2K threat, and from the boom and subsequent bust of the dot-com era.”

“Although I was solving lot of specific problems on a day-to-day basis, I realized that many of those specific problems could be solved by resolving the general problem that lay at their roots. This realization led me to join the PhD program. I hope that with training in conducting rigorous scientific research, I'll be able to offer solutions to some of the problems I encountered in the industry ”

Research Interests: “My research interests stem from my educational background in Computer Science and Business Administration, as well as nine years of experience in the information technology (IT) services industry. Over these nine years, I have worked on numerous applications related to supply chain management and have experienced the significance of efficient allocation and procurement processes in organizations. Rapid advancements of IT have opened new horizons for the development of sophisticated electronic trading mechanisms that promise to yield better economic outcomes for corporations and their vendors, as well as the society as a whole. My primary research agenda is to exploit the recent advances in IT to design novel market mechanisms, and to empirically examine how the manipulation of information provided to market participants influences: (a) the economic performance of the mechanism, (b) the distribution of the gains among the buyers and the sellers, (c) the acceptance potential of the mechanism among prospective users, and (d) the strategic behavior of the participants. In my studies, I employ design science, experimental economics, and econometric methodologies.”

Current Research Project: “My dissertation research is aimed at making combinatorial auctions more generally available in the online marketplace. Although under certain conditions, combinatorial auctions can generate higher social welfare compared to multiple single-item auctions, the complexity of the environment has hindered their general availability in consumer centric electronic auctions. My research designs a bidder support system intended to make this otherwise complex environment more intuitive and transparent to its participants. I study the economic and behavioral implications of different types of feedback through laboratory experiments.”

“My other research projects include the design and empirical evaluation of information feedback for multiattribute procurement auctions; empirical comparison of continuous and iterative combinatorial auctions; and analysis of the nature of competition in healthcare services procurement auctions.”

General Impressions: “I’m fascinated by University of Minnesota and Minnesota in general. It won’t be an exaggeration if I said I like everything about Minnesota—its people, its woods, its lakes and even its snow! Regarding the doctoral program, my experience thus far has just been wonderful. The members of the faculty are extraordinarily helpful and all the students are always willing to help as well. Being a student of Carlson school gives me access to outstanding resources, including books, software and state-of-the-art business research.”