Fourteen faculty teams at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business have been awarded three-year grants from the school for research projects that address the world’s grand challenges and reimagine learning in support of the University of Maryland’s vision and the Smith School’s strategic plan.

There’s a growing bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to strengthen antitrust agencies and weaken the dominance a few big companies have over entire industries in the United States, namely the big tech companies. In June, House lawmakers took their first votes on a series of bills that would, for one thing, make it harder for companies to acquire potential rivals. And that’s a big deal, says Maryland Smith’s Bruno Pellegrino. His research proves that America has an oligopoly problem.

Maryland Smith’s Bruno Pellegrino won the 2021 Charles River Associates Award for the best paper on corporate finance, announced June 17 at the Western Finance Association’s annual conference. Pellegrino’s research looks at the rise of oligopolies in the United States with a groundbreaking new model for economists to more accurately measure competition in U.S. markets and the consequences for consumers.

For the past quarter-century, Italy’s economy has been nearly stagnant – not because of trade shocks, bad government, labor market problems, or lack of technology advancements, but because of a management style that is holding the country back, finds research from Maryland Smith’s Bruno Pellegrino.

There will be a few new professors in the corridors of Van Munching Hall and in Maryland Smith’s online courses this academic year. Five new professors will join the faculty at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Here’s a little bit about them.