Accountancy

EB Altiero, CPA, began the PhD program in 2009. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology degree from The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) in 2002 and completed the Master of Science in Accounting program also from the The University of Michigan in 2004. E.B. then went on work at Ernst & Young as a financial auditor for 5 years, specializing in financial services clients. Outside of the PhD program E.B. enjoys horseback riding and rides competitively on the hunter/jumper show circuit.

Özlem Arikan began the PhD program in 2007.  She earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Middle East Technical University, Turkey in 1992 and completed the Master in Professional Accounting Program at the University of Texas at Austin in 2001. After graduation, he worked as an expert at the Turkish Financial Regulatory Agency. She also worked as a Lecturer at the Middle East Technical University. She enjoys music and reading.

Rachel Birkey, CPA, began the PhD program in 2005. She received her Bachelor’s of Public Accounting from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2001 and completed the Master’s of Science in Accounting program at Illinois State University in 2002. After graduation, Rachel worked in the tax department of BKD, LLP. She enjoys spending time with her family – especially her husband, creatively cooking in healthy ways, reading good books and cheering on the Fighting Illini.

Sean Cao began the PhD program in 2007. Sean earned two Masters’ degrees, one in international finance from Yonsei University and the other in algorithmic mathematics from Beijing Normal University. Prior to enrollment in the PhD program, Sean spent two years to further study economics, econometrics and finance at the University of Hawaii and UIUC. His research interest is empirical capital market, particularly the relation between accounting information and stock return. Sean likes movies, watching sports and a variety of water sports including swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving.

Salvatore Cardamone

Hye-Sun Chang graduated from Yonsei Univ, Seoul Korea, majoring in Business Administration. After graduation, she worked for Woori Bank for about 2 years and after that, worked with Futures and Options Operation team, JPMorgan Securities for 8 months. Hoping to pursue furthur study in accounting, she started my master's in accountancy at this school last year and completed it this past May. Also, she passed the CPA exam in 2007.

Myron Chang began the PhD program in 2008. He was born in Ann Arbor and grew up in Michigan. He was one of the finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program in 2006, and received his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting with High Honor from Michigan State University in 2008. After graduation, he went straight into the PhD program. He enjoys computer games and travelling to different countries, especially Hong Kong, a place where he had two years of schooling and still likes to visit.

Po-Chang (Bryant) Chen began the PhD program in 2006. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Accounting from National Taiwan University. He also passed Taiwan CPA exam in 2000. Prior to his enrollment in the PhD program, he worked for 2 years at Abeam Consulting, an Asian-based management consulting firm, as a business analyst. He loves playing badminton in free time and enjoys movies and spending time with friends.

Jonathan (Jon) Grenier began the PhD program in 2003. He received a BBA and MAcc from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1999 and 2000, respectively. After graduation, Jon worked for Andersen in Atlanta for two years in the assurance practice. After Andersen, Jon became a senior associate at KPMG. Jon is primarily interested in judgment and decision making research in auditing. Specific interests include professional skepticism, auditor independence, outcome effects, motivated reasoning, and audit risk assessment.

[Vita]

Ling Harris began the PhD program in 2003. She received an MAS degree in 2003 from the University of Illinois. She worked as a Lecturer in the University, teaching Financial Accounting Standards. Her research interests are financial and managerial accounting with an emphasis in corporate governance. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.

Shuoyuan He began the PhD program in 2008. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Financial Management from Fudan University, China in 2004 and earned her Master’s in Finance and Master’s in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Before coming to Illinois, she worked as an auditor in Ernst & Young for almost two years. She enjoys reading, travelling and playing sports with friends.

Yoon Ju Kang began the PhD program in 2006. She received her BA in Public Relations and Business Administration from Ewha Womans University in Korea and earned her Master's in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before coming to Illinois, she worked for two years as a junior associate at Samsung Securities in Korea. She enjoys playing sports and spending time with her friends and family.

Walied Keshk began the PhD program in 2005. He earned his Master’s of Accounting and Bachelor’s of Accounting from Alexandria University, Egypt in October 2004 and May 1998, respectively. Prior to entering the PhD program, he was an assistant lecturer at the Department of Accounting at Alexandria University, Egypt for six years. He is interested in managerial and cost accounting. In his spare time, he enjoys watching movies and hanging out with friends.

Justin Leiby began the PhD program in 2007. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Bachelor of Arts in German from the University of Pittsburgh in 2004. After graduation, he worked as a Business Development Manager for iGate Corporation, an IT Consulting firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Justin’s academic interest include Judgment and Decision Making and experimental research. His non-academic interests include literature, philosophy, walking, watching sports, and – most importantly – spending time with his wife.

Jennifer (Jenny) Nichol is an Illinois native in that she was born in this state, although she grew up in various places the United States and lived in Spain for a few years. She earned her B. S. in Accountancy from UIUC, graduating with Highest Honors just this past May. She spent the first few years of her adult life devoted to childcare and currently lives with her eleven year old son, whom she adores. In her “spare” time, she enjoys taking a breath before getting back to work and vaguely remembers having once read books for fun.

Stephen Rowe earned a bachelors degree in Business from Covenant College and a Masters in accounting from Loyola University Chicago. Following college, Stephen worked as a commercial banker for two years before transitioning to public accounting. After working for a local accounting firm in Seattle, Stephen joined KPMG in 2003 where he became an audit manager and worked until 2009. In 2009, Stephen left KPMG and started the PhD program in accounting at the University of Illinois.

Paula Sanders, CPA, began the PhD program in 2002. She received both a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and a MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. She has worked primarily as an auditor, most recently as a Principal Auditor with the University of California at Berkeley’s Audit & Advisory Services Department. She has also worked part-time as an instructor at the University of San Francisco and as a non-profit accounting consultant. Her research interests include audit and internal control decisions, performance measures, and financial disclosures, and she is looking forward to learning about other possible research areas. When she can find the time, she enjoys movies, walking, cooking, and is hoping to learn to play the guitar.

 

Padmakumar M. Sivadasan began the PhD program in 2005. He has an undergraduate degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Kerala Agricultural University, India. He completed his Master’s degree in accounting at the University of North Texas. He is a member of the Indian Revenue Service and he is pursuing his PhD while on sabbatical from the Government of India. He enjoys public speaking, traveling and watching cricket, but above all, loves spending time with his wife Ambika, and their son, Rohan.

Matthew Stern

I-Ling Wang began the PhD program in 2005. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from National Taiwan University in 2002 and 2004, respectively. Prior to enrollment in the PhD program, she worked at Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica in Taiwan as a research assistant in the field of population and family economics. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, biking, music, and travel.

Jundong (Jeff) Wang began the PhD program in 2006. He earned his Master of Science in Finance degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2006 and his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Shanghai International Studies University in 2004. Prior to enrollment in the doctoral program, he worked as a Management Trainee for Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong for one year. In his free time, he enjoys playing golf, basketball and watching movies.

Brian White began the PhD program in 2008.  After completing his Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Brian moved to the UK, where he earned a Master’s degree in African Studies from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from Manchester Business School.  He and his wife spent ten years growing a chain of retail stores in Liverpool, England, which they successfully sold in 2007.  Brian’s research interests include comparative international accounting and accounting for private enterprise.  He enjoys running, skiing and entertaining friends and family with his wife and three young children.

Yu-Ching (Steve) Wu began the PhD program in 2006. He received his Bachelor’s degree in MIS from National Taiwan University in 2000 and the Master’s degree in Accounting from National Chengchi University in 2002. Prior to enrollment in the PhD program, Steve worked at Strategic Cost Management Association as a consultant and research assistant in the field of managerial accounting. His habits include swimming, walking, reading and cooking. He also enjoys spending time with his family and having an afternoon coffee with friends in his spare time.

Hui Zhou began the PhD program in 2005. She is originally from China, and received her Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology in 2002. Prior to enrollment in the PhD program, she spent three years in the doctoral program in Management Information Systems at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and earned a Master’s degree in Information Systems along with a Graduate Certificate in Systems Development. When she can find time, she enjoys pending time with family and friends, watching movies, shopping, and reading, especially Chinese literature and history.

Aaron Zimbelman obtained his MAcc and B.S. in accounting with a minor in Economics this month (August 2009) from Brigham Young University. His MAcc emphasis was in professional accounting and he went through BYU's PhD prep track. Aaron has worked in internships as an internal auditor at Sanmina-SCI and an external auditor with KPMG. He also worked briefly with KPMG's forensic practice. Further, Aaron was a research assistant at BYU for the past two years. Aaron's research interests include auditing, financial statement fraud, and corporate governance, and he is interested in performing behavioral and experimental economics research.