Michel Wedel a Distinguished University Professor

Marketing professor Michel Wedel has been named a Distinguished University Professor – the University of Maryland’s highest academic honor that’s reserved for a limited number of professors whose scholarly activities have brought distinction to the university. 

Wedel, Pepsico Professor of Consumer Science at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, is the second Smith professor to draw this honor. His marketing department colleague Roland Rust was named a Distinguished University Professor in 2008. 

“Michel is among the top researchers in the area of consumer science and marketing modeling and among the top experts of eye-tracking research,” said P.K. Kannan, Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Marketing Science and marketing department chair. “This is a great honor and a fitting recognition of his contribution to academia and the university.” 

Among previous honors, Wedel is a UMD 2013-2014 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and a Dr. Hendrik Muller Prize for Behavioral and Social Sciences recipient from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. He also received the Gilbert A. Churchill award for lifetime achievement in marketing research from the American Marketing Association and a William F. O'Dell Award from the Journal of Marketing Research “for significant, long-term contribution to marketing theory, methodology and/or practice.” 

Wedel focuses his research on applying statistical (Bayesian), psychometric and econometric methods to further the understanding of consumer behavior and to improve marketing decision making. Much of his recent work has measured the effectiveness of visual marketing, including advertising, shelf layout, web design, copycat products and using eye-tracking technology. He teaches models for marketing decision making for MBA students, advanced marketing analytics for MS students and Bayesian statistics for PhD students. 

A fellow of both the American Statistical Association and INFORMS Society for Marketing Science, he has published about 170 peer-reviewed articles and drawn 14,000-plus citations. He is associate editor of both the Journal of Marketing Research and Marketing Science and has consulted for more than 30 companies, including A.C. Nielsen, Daimler AG, Deloitte Consulting, Mars Inc., McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, P&G, Helen Keller, IntelliQuest (WPP), Intomart (Gfk), Research International (TNS) and Unilever. He earned his PhD in marketing from the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands.