Business Professor Receives Grant from Research Foundation-Flanders

Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business associate professor in operations and IT management, Palash Bera, Ph.D., has received a $230,000 grant awarded by the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO) through Ghent University, Belgium.

Bera will serve as the co-supervisor on the project titled "Attention direction and task performance with domain model patterns."

Over the next four years, Bera and his fellow researcher, Geert Poels, Ph.D., will test different guidelines for effective use of patterns in domain models. Domain or conceptual models are developed as part of requirements analysis to document and communicate domain understanding during information systems development.

“This research will help identify the mental processes of how users understand domain models,” Bera said. “An example of such a model is a visual representation of transactions that take place in organizations. Knowing this will help us design effective domain models. We will be able to come up with specific guidelines on how domain models should be constructed.”

Bera’s research interests are in empirical studies of information systems analysis and design and the use of eye-tracking technologies as a research methodology. His research focuses on creating and testing guidelines of structured requirements analysis. He has published in reputed information systems journals such as MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research and Requirements Engineering Journal.

Bera has worked in executive and consulting positions in two multinational companies. His teaching interests are in business analytics, requirements analysis and database design. He has recently served as the president of the AIS Special Interest Group on Systems Analysis and Design.