'I've been interested in economics, economic impacts, and related social issues for a long time,' says Zhang, who majored in mathematical economics as an undergraduate. 'I wanted to apply my math skills to see how we could improve policies and their effects.' Zhang is interested in how to improve conditions for workers. She believes it's important to build relationships with policymakers, focusing on an evidence-driven approach to policy, while always remembering to center those the policies may affect. 'We have to remember the people whose lives are impacted by business operations and legislation,' she says. Zhang began investigating employee productivity, artificial intelligence, and related economic and labor market phenomena early in her time as a doctoral student, collaborating frequently with fellow PhD students in the department. A collaboration with economics doctoral student Shakked Noy yielded the 2023 study investigating ChatGPT as a tool to improve productivity. Their research found it substantially increased workers' productivity on writing tasks, most so for workers who initially performed the worst on the tasks....

“Who are you?” may well be the world’s most frequently asked question. On a website, in a nightclub, at an airport, or in front of a bank counter, everyone wants us to prove that we are who we say we are....

Something is happening in Midtown Atlanta. Georgia Tech’s city-centered campus has become one of the nation’s leading destinations for corporate research centers. Over the last decade, Tech Square, the eight-square-block area in Midtown designed to facilitate private and public research ventures, has attracted the corporate research centers of 12 Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, Panasonic, and Coca-Cola, as well as hundreds of small technology startups. And just recently, NCR, one of the largest U.S. electronics companies, moved its global headquarters from the suburbs to Tech Square, bringing along 3,600 employees....

Meet John. He’s a wizard at data analytics. His combination of mathematical ability and software development skill is highly unusual. His CV features two master’s degrees, both with honors. An obvious guy for a tech company to scoop up, right?...