Haslam College of Business - PHD Student Profiles

Dawson Maddox is a third-year Ph.D. student in Haslam’s Department of Business Analytics and Statistics. He holds undergraduate degrees in math and chemistry and a master’s degree in teaching from East Tennessee State University. Before pursuing his doctorate, Maddox taught chemistry and physics, and his interdisciplinary background informs research on healthcare analytics and operations.

Maddox’s research examines continuity of care and how healthcare delivery decisions affect patient outcomes. “I am analyzing healthcare data, specifically Medicare data sets, and trying to determine if there’s any benefit to continuity of care,” he says.

In his current work, Maddox studies whether completing pre-admission testing at the same hospital where surgery is performed improves recovery outcomes. His findings show that patients who undergo pre-admission testing experience shorter hospital stays, one day on average, and have lower 30-day readmission risk. He also finds an increase in pre-surgical outpatient procedures, suggesting that more diagnostic and preparatory work is completed in advance, reducing delays and complications during inpatient care. Importantly, these benefits are accompanied by reductions in total costs for patients, often amounting to several thousand dollars per episode.

Maddox believes his research will help healthcare leaders improve care delivery. “I hope our insights on pre-admission testing and continuity of care can be seen as operational levers that hospital administrators, managers and physicians can use to improve patient outcomes,” he says.

After completing his Ph.D., Maddox plans to pursue a career in academia, where he hopes to continue both teaching and research.

Nataliia Yakushko is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in Haslam’s Department of Management and Entrepreneurship strategy, entrepreneurship and organizations program. She holds an MBA from Valdosta State University and bachelor’s degree in of finance and credit from the Faculty of Economics Ivan Franko National University of L’viv. Yakushko brings international academic and professional experience to her research on entrepreneurship and resilience.

She studies how entrepreneurs respond to extreme adversity, including war, displacement and crisis. “My research explores how entrepreneurs survive, adapt and create positive change amid extreme difficulty,” she says. “Even in the darkest moments, entrepreneurship can serve as a powerful tool for resilience, well-being and social impact.”

The doctoral student’s work also examines how emotions, identity and psychological resources shape entrepreneurial decision-making. She has found that emotional challenges often persist even after entrepreneurs leave conflict zones and that difficult emotions can influence positive outcomes. “Negative emotions like guilt can serve as strong motivators for sustained pro-social entrepreneurial behavior,” Yakushko says. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and presented at academic conferences, with multiple papers under review at leading journals.

Yakushko’s research is deeply personal. As a Ukrainian-born scholar, she has witnessed the impact of war firsthand. “I have seen how entrepreneurs keep acting, supporting others and rebuilding amid devastation,” she says. “That experience motivated me to study entrepreneurship under extreme conditions.”

After completing her Ph.D., Yakushko will join Virginia Commonwealth University as a tenure track assistant professor of entrepreneurship.

Megan Miller is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Haslam’s Department of Marketing. She holds an MBA with a graduate certificate in marketing management and a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing and a minor in mathematics from Colorado State University. The doctoral candidate brings professional experience in college admissions and small business management to her research on visual persuasion and consumer behavior. 

Miller studies how subtle visual cues, such as facial features, colors, shapes and fonts, influence consumer behavior in digital environments like social media. In her dissertation, she investigates the effects of beauty filters, as well as how digitally altering facial features shapes consumer perceptions and product endorsements. “We find that using filters as a technology-driven shortcut to access benefits of beauty without the effort can backfire,” she says. 

Her research shows that when influencers use automatic beauty filters, consumers negatively evaluate their moral character, which decreases interest in endorsed products. Miller was surprised to find that influencers are judged more harshly for using beauty filters than for using higher-effort editing tools such as Photoshop. Her work highlights how perceived shortcuts can harm brand partnerships and reshape assumptions about attractiveness in digital marketing. 

Miller has accepted a position with the University of Arkansas as an assistant professor of marketing and will begin with the university in the fall.

Vlada Snyder is a fourth-year supply chain management Ph.D. candidate. She holds an honor’s bachelor degree in biomedical sciences and an MBA from Marquette University. This doctoral student’s interdisciplinary background informs research on sustainability and responsible supply chain management.

Snyder studies environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and how organizations implement sustainability across global supply networks. “I’m interested in labor rights and employment opportunities and ensuring that workers are cared for across the entire supply chain network,” she says.

The supply chain scholar’s research examines how companies adapt environmental sustainability strategies over time and respond to stakeholder expectations. In one project, Snyder analyzed more than 25 years of sustainability reports from an industry-leading electronics company. “I was surprised by how much they changed and adapted over time,” she says. “Recognizing stakeholder expectations and implementing those changes is really when organizations make an impact on communities, on the planet and on people.”

Snyder also recently published research examining labor flows as a critical component of supply chains, emphasizing the importance of recognizing workers as individuals rather than interchangeable resources. Through her research, Snyder hopes to help organizations create meaningful change. “Businesses operate across the globe and influence so many people,” she says. “Why not use that influence to make the world a little bit better?”

After completing her Ph.D., Snyder plans to pursue an academic career as a professor, where she hopes to continue researching sustainable supply chain management and preparing other future leaders.