Dr. AJ Aluri |
Dr. Basak Denizci Guillet |
Dr. Pearl Lin |
Dr. Tingting Zhang |
Dr. AJ Aluri is an associate professor and founding director of the Hospitality Innovation and Technology (HIT) Lab in the Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTOR) program within the Department of Management at the College of Business and Economics (B&E) at West Virginia University (WVU). His academic and research expertise combines all areas of his education, research interests, and focus in the areas of hospitality information technology and management and information systems, and how these areas impact international hospitality organizations, society, and education.
His research has been published in the following top hospitality journals: Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education, and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology. He is also on the editorial board of three hospitality journals, and is currently serving as Director of Networking for the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (CHRIE). His industry experiences come from diverse industry sectors, where he has worked for software and technology companies, non-profits, and the hospitality industry.
Dr. Aluri played a vital role in developing the HTOR program in the B&E at WVU. He has been invited to speak at several top international and national conferences. Throughout his career, Dr. Aluri has received several research awards; most recently, he won the “Article of the Year” award from the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research in 2018 and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education in 2016. Dr. Aluri is a recipient of the 2018 Excellence in Hospitality and Tourism Education award from the West Virginia Hospitality and Tourism Association. He was also awarded the 2018 “Friend of ProStart” award from the West Virginia Hospitality Education and Training (WV HEAT) in the West Virginia Department of Education, in recognition of his commitment and support for the ProStart students of West Virginia. A little further back, he was a recipient of the prestigious 2011 Phoenix Award for Outstanding Doctoral Student at Oklahoma State University (OSU), and also received a “Citation of Congratulations” for his contributions at OSU from the legislature of the State of Oklahoma.
Dr. Basak Denizci Guillet is an Associate Professor of Hospitality Finance and Revenue Management at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She received a B.S. degree in tourism and hotel management from Bilkent University, a M.S. degree in hotel administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Ph.D. degree in hospitality financial management from the Pennsylvania State University. She worked in the hotel industry as part of the Hilton and Marriot teams. She is the recipient of 2012 President’s Award for Excellent Performance and Achievement in Teaching, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2013 Schoolof Hotel & Tourism Management Award for Research Excellence and 2015Schoolof Hotel & Tourism Management Award for Service Excellence .
She is an editorial board member of the International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration, Anatolia and European Journal of Tourism Research. Prior to her appointment at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, she worked at University of South Carolina as an assistant professor.
Her academic research interests include hospitality business analytics with an emphasis on financial and revenue management. Dr. Denizci Guillet has presented her research papers in several conferences including Annual International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (I-CHRIE) Conference, Asia Pacific Tourism Association Conference, Annual Conference and Exposition and Annual Conference of the Association of Hospitality Financial Management Education. She published her work in the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Hospitality Financial Management, Journal of Travel Research, Annals of Tourism Research, and the Journal of Intellectual Capital. She delivered workshops and training programs on strategic decision making from a hospitality financial management perspective and revenue management to hotel executives in South East Asia.
Dr. Pearl Lin is the Assistant Professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She received her bachelor degree from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), NY, USA in 2000 with a major in Culinary Arts Management. She also received ($8,000 USD) La cucina e cultura scholarship from Italian Trade Commission in 2001. During her study in CIA, she won two first places in a national tomato and turkey recipes contests and received $6,000 USD. In 2003, Pearl studied for her Master’s degree in Hospitality Management from the University of Brighton, England, after which she was a lecturer and taught several food and beverage courses in the Department of Hotel Management at Minghsin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. In 2008, she received a $50,000USD scholarship from the Ministry of Education, Taiwan to undertake PhD. studies at The University of Strathclyde, Scotland from where she graduated in 2012. At heart, Pearl is a chef who delights in her strong connections with the professional and practical world where she received her formative experiences in our industry. Pearl has acted as the chief judge of a culinary competition run by the Council of Labour Affairs, Taiwan. Also, she has served as a judge and expert to represent Taiwan to attend International Abilympics Competition, and the Worldskills Competition in London, Korea and Bordeaux since 2008. Through her international culinary judge experience, Pearl was invited by TEDx Hong Kong to share her knowledge and expertise on the topic of Edible Ideas to the community in Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Nov 2016. In addition, she was invited to share her knowledge with industry professionals and educators in Turkey, Thailand, Dubai, Macao, Hong Kong, and China. Pearl has been able to combine her academic and professional career with her passion for culinary arts. She is the author of two cookbooks, as well as co-author of a cooking DVD series and several cook books
Dr. Tingting Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Hospitality Management at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida, USA. She received a B.S. degree in Tourism Marketing from Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China, and a M.S. degree and Ph.D. degree in Consumer Sciences Specialization in Hospitality Management from the Ohio State University, Ohio, USA. She worked in the hotel and food catering industry as part of the Marriot and Sodexo teams. She is a recipient of Best Paper Awards from Journal of Service Management (2014, 2015) and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management (2016). She is also a recipient of Young Researcher Awards (2014) sponsored by Cornell School of Hotel Administration. She has received several Best Paper Awards from international business and hospitality conferences.
She is an Assistant Editor of Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology and an editorial board member of Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, the Journal of Interdisciplinary Business-Economics Advancement (IIBA Journal), Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science, Journal of Tourism and Hospitality, Journal of Global Business Insights.
Her academic research interests include information technology and smart innovations in the hospitality and tourism with an emphasis on theories of value co-creation and customer engagement. She is also interested in health-related technology innovations and employee wellness programs. Dr. Zhang published her work in International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Computers in Human Behavior, Journal of Service Management, Journal of Service Marketing, and International Journal of Electronic Commerce. She has presented her research papers in several conferences including Annual International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (I-CHRIE) Conference, Global Marketing Conference, Annual Conference for Positive Marketing, and International Research Symposium in Service Management.