Finance
PHD Students
Giang Huynh
Email: [email protected]
Giang Huynh is a second-year finance Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business. Her current research interests lie in empirical corporate finance and value investing, focusing on how corporate financial decisions influence long-term investors. Before entering the doctoral program, she gained professional experience as a senior investment analyst at a value fund in Vietnam and as an advising assistant for startups and entrepreneurs at the Small Business Development Center in Texas. Huynh also passed the CFA Level I exam during that time.
Jacob Jones
First-Year Ph.D. Student in Finance
Email: [email protected]
Research Interests: Banking Regulation, Relationship Banking, Financial Institutions, Access to Credit
Jacob Jones is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Finance at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business. His research interests center on banking and financial institutions. Prior to beginning the Ph.D. program, Jacob gained experience in the banking and commercial real estate sectors, and completed an undergraduate Honors thesis using empirical methods to study firm-level innovation and investor sentiment. He holds a B.S. in finance from Murray State University.
Working Papers
- “Market Sentiment of Highly Innovative Firms”
Joshua Lawson
Email: [email protected]
Josh Lawson is a finance Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business His research lies at the intersection of asset pricing, empirical market microstructure, portfolio choice and machine learning in finance. A central theme of his research is the equilibrium price impact of heterogeneous investors. He studies how variation in investor preferences and arbitrage intensity affects price formation and market efficiency. Lawson also works on topics related to machine learning in finance and long-run decision making under uncertainty.
Tao Lin
Email: [email protected]
Tao Yin is a first-year finance Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business. His interdisciplinary background informs his empirical research interests in corporate finance, asset pricing and financial forecasting. He holds an M.S. in finance from Baruch College as well as an MBA from Renmin University of China. He previously obtained an M.S. in software engineering from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications and a B.S. in computer science and technology from Zhengzhou University of Aeronauti
Lan Nie
Email: [email protected]
Lan Nie is a third-year Ph.D. student in Finance at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business. Her research interests include corporate finance, corporate governance and boards of directors. Her current research focuses on how directors and shareholders influence corporate decision-making and investment. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she earned an M.Sc. in Finance from King’s College London and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Liaoning University.
Wenxuan (Laura) Sun
PhD Candidate — 2026–27 Job Market
Email: [email protected]
Wenxuan Sun is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Finance at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business. Her research interests encompass corporate finance, corporate governance, labor and finance and innovation. Her work examines how regulation and institutional frictions shape firms’ investment, innovation and strategic decisions. She is currently focused on the effects of tax incentives, labor-market regulation and intellectual property protection on corporate investment and acquisition decisions. She holds an M.S. in quantitative finance from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a B.S. in accounting from Xi’an International Studies University.
Working Papers
- Tax Incentives and Unexpected Investment Responses: Evidence from ERTA
with Tingting Liu - Silencing Salary Talk: How Salary History Bans Affect Corporate Investment and Performance
with Matthew Serfling - The Role of IP Protection Statutes in Shaping M&A Target Choices
with Zhengzhuo(Zyaire) Li
Selected Presentations
Eastern Finance Association (EFA) Annual Meeting
Financial Management Association (FMA) Annual Meeting
Southern Finance Association (SFA) Annual Meeting
Southwestern Finance Association (SWFA) Annual Meeting
Dissertation Committee: Tingting Liu (Co-Chair), Matthew Serfling (Co-Chair), Daniel Weagley, James Chyz
Joseph Wang
Email: [email protected]
Joseph Wang is a second-year finance Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business. He has previously worked as a treasury associate at a regional bank and has performed global equity research for a wealth management firm. Wang is interested in researching in the fields of asset pricing and investments, specifically in mispricing and market anomalies in emerging markets.