Using a database of 130,000 Yelp reviews, Smith PhD student Jorge Mejia and two Smith professors have found a way to predict which Washington, D.C., restaurants will close. The technique, which grew out of Mejia’s dissertation, involves new software that can “read” and analyze the contents of online reviews.

Smith Researchers Mine Yelp to Predict Success, Failure of D.C. Venues SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Using a database of 130,000 Yelp reviews of restaurants in Washington, DC, two professors and a graduate student at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business have identified a method that allows software to “read” the content of those reviews—and predict which restaurants will close.