Three new faculty members across two departments will join the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin–Madison this fall, bringing research expertise and teaching excellence in the areas of operations and information management and real estate and urban land economics.
“We are thrilled to welcome three accomplished colleagues to the Wisconsin School of Business,” says Nicholas Petruzzi, senior associate dean for faculty and staff. “At this exciting time of rapid innovation, our newest cohort of scholars will bring state-of-the-art research and teaching programs that will drive business forward and advance the Wisconsin Idea.”
The new faculty members are:
Assistant Professor of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics
Sean Flynn previously held academic appointments at Cornell University, Tulane University, and Colorado State University. He received his doctorate in finance from Arizona State University. Prior to academia, Flynn worked at the Federal Reserve Board in both research and bank supervision capacities. His research interests include real estate, financial intermediation, and corporate finance.
Recent work has focused on the effects of commercial real estate loan modifications and the drivers of return-to-office policies.
Assistant Professor of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics
“What draws me to the real estate market is that it sits at a rare intersection,” says So Hye Yoon. “It’s one of the biggest markets in the world, touching nearly every household’s biggest financial decision, yet it’s full of frictions and constraints, from the time and financial pressures individual sellers face to the regulatory constraints on building new homes. That combination, a market that matters enormously to people’s lives but is shaped by imperfect information and frictions at every turn, is what pulled me toward studying real estate.”
Yoon’s research examines how institutions and information frictions shape outcomes in real estate and digital platform markets. Her work also focuses on how private equity developers negotiate with local governments during rezoning and permitting, and how small businesses strategically adjust operating hours in response to labor market pressures.
Yoon earned a Bachelor of Science in economics and a Master of Science in economics, both from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. She received her doctorate in economics from Princeton University.
Assistant Professor of Operations and Information Management
Baizhi Song examines how optimization and analytics methods can address environmental challenges. His current research focuses on applications for ocean plastic cleanup, environmental monitoring, and climate resilience.
“One particularly memorable moment was seeing the routing algorithms I developed to collect floating plastic debris actually being used at sea,” he says. “It was incredibly rewarding to see how optimization can move beyond academic research and make a tangible contribution to environmental protection in practice.”
Song will contribute to cross-campus conversations and scholarship as part of UW–Madison’s Wisconsin Research, Innovation and Scholarly Excellence (RISE) Initiative. RISE was created to address today’s most pressing problems in Wisconsin and around the globe. He joins RISE-EARTH, which focuses on the environment and sustainability.
He earned a Bachelor of Science in actuarial science from Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, China, and a Master of Science in financial engineering from Columbia University. Song received his doctorate in management science and operations from London Business School.