2026 NC Triangle Research Regional Exchange

Aaron “Ronnie” Chatterji, Ph.D. is the Mark Burgess & Lisa Benson-Burgess Distinguished Professor of Business and Public Policy at Duke University. He is currently the Chief Economist of OpenAI, where he leads a team of researchers exploring the economic and societal impacts of artificial intelligence.

Ronnie works at the intersection of academia, public policy and business, investigating the most important forces shaping our economy and society. His primary appointment is in the Fuqua School of Business, from where he has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in the top journals in strategic management, economics, finance and organizational studies and two books, Can Business Save the Earth? (Stanford University Press) and The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth (University of Chicago Press).

Chatterji is committed to public service, both at the national level and in his home state of North Carolina. He most recently held senior economic policy positions in the Biden Administration. Chatterji served as the White House CHIPS coordinator, overseeing the implementation of the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act, one of the largest industrial policy initiatives in a generation. He was also the Acting Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council, overseeing the Administration’s work on supporting American manufacturing, building more resilient supply chains, and driving technological innovation. Prior to his White House role, he served as the Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was the principal economic adviser to the Secretary of Commerce and responsible for policy development related to U.S. competitiveness, innovation, trade and economic growth.

Ronnie previously worked for President Obama as a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Chatterji served on the North Carolina FIRST Commission and the Governor’s Entrepreneurial Council, two statewide bodies advising Governor Roy Cooper on economic policy. During his sabbatical leave in 2020, Ronnie ran for State Treasurer of North Carolina, winning the statewide primary election and earning more than 2 million votes in the general election.

He has received several awards for his research, including the Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in entrepreneurship, the Rising Star award from the Aspen Institute, and the Strategic Management Society Emerging Scholar award. Chatterji has authored several op-ed pieces in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, including influential essays introducing the concept of CEO activism with co-author Michael Toffel. He writes widely for management and policy audiences with several recent pieces in Harvard Business Review and for the Brookings Institution.

Ronnie has won multiple teaching awards at Duke, both for his teaching in the core curriculum and electives. He created a new elective on business and politics that was profiled in national media and became one of the most popular courses at the Fuqua School of Business. He is a frequent keynote speaker and experienced facilitator who has worked with top companies in finance, healthcare, technology, energy, retail, real estate and sports.

Chatterji is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and was previously a visiting Associate Professor at The Harvard Business School. He also holds a secondary appointment at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy.

Ronnie was previously a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and worked as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. He received his Ph.D. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and his B.A. in Economics from Cornell University.

Guanting Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics and Operations Research at UNC–Chapel Hill. His research focuses on AI-for-Math, large language models, and sequential decision-making. He is also the founder of RigorisAI, which develops AI-for-Math tools for formalization, verification, and scientific reasoning.

Co-presenting with Jake Benhart.

Bio forthcoming.

Laber is the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Statistical Sciences at Duke University. His work focuses on the development of methodologies for statistical reinforcement learning with applications in precision medicine, public health, e-sports, and retail. He is also passionate about K-12 STEM outreach. More information about his lab is available at https://laber-labs.com/.

Bio forthcoming.

Shawn Mankad is an Associate Professor of IT & Analytics and the Dean’s Scholar at NC State’s Poole College of Management. His research develops and applies advanced statistical and machine-learning methods to study business, economic, and policy issues. Before joining NC State, Professor Mankad held faculty positions at Cornell University and the University of Maryland and was a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University and a PhD in statistics from the University of Michigan. Personal website: http://mankad-research.github.io.

Pelin Pekgun is the Thomas H. Davis Professor in Business, Professor of Analytics, and Department Chair at Wake Forest University School of Business. Her research interests include applications of management science and operations research in supply chain management, pricing and revenue management, marketing/operations interface, and humanitarian and non-profit operations. Her research has appeared in top journals including Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Journal of Operations Management, and Journal of Marketing. Prior to joining academia, she led the operations research team in North America at JDA Software’s Pricing and Revenue Management Group, with a particular focus on hospitality and travel.

Professor Pekgun currently serves as an Associate Editor for Manufacturing & Service Operations Management and a Department Editor for Decision Sciences journals. She also serves as the Secretary on the INFORMS Board of Directors and Executive Committee and as the Vice President, Industry on the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) Board. She holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in industrial and systems engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and B.S. and M.S. degrees in industrial engineering from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey.

Dr. Munindar P. Singh is the SAS Institute Distinguished Professor and an Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. Munindar’s research addresses how to develop artificial intelligence agents that are responsive to human needs, cooperate effectively with each other, and behave ethically and safely singly and in ensembles.

Munindar is a Fellow of AAAI, AAAS, ACM, and IEEE, a Foreign Member of Academia Europaea (honoris causa), and a recipient of the ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award.

Bio forthcoming.

Serhan Ziya is a professor in the Department of Statistics and Operations Research at the University of North Carolina. He holds a BS degree in Industrial Engineering (1997) from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering (1999, 2003) from Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests are in service operations, with a focus on healthcare operations, queueing systems, revenue management, and pricing. More information can be found from his website at http://ziya.web.unc.edu/.