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Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making

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    Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making

    Today's leaders are burdened with ever-growing expectations and dilemmas. The Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making provides leaders with tools at the intersection of ethics and technology so they can make wise decisions for their organizations while feeling confident about the future. In so doing, we aim to help solve what we believe to be the most difficult, but most important, challenge of our time – how to align emerging technologies with ethical, human-centered values.

About

The Neely Center focuses on three technology-powered innovations poised to revolutionize business and society: 1) Social media platforms and their effects on individuals and communities around the world; 2) Artificial intelligence and its implications for human coordination and decision making; and 3) Immersive and mixed reality (AR/VR/XR) environments with the potential to enhance or detract from physical reality. In each case, we seek to steer these powerful tools toward their benefits and away from harms.

The Neely Center was founded thanks to a generous endowment provided by USC Trustee Jerry Neely and his wife Nancy. The Center’s mission is to guide leaders in making responsible decisions surrounding the development, implementation, and management of emerging technologies. By fostering and promoting cutting-edge research, comprehensive education, and cross-disciplinary dialogue, we strive to ensure that technological advancements contribute to both immediate and enduring societal benefits.

The Neely Indices

USC Marshall’s Neely Ethics & Technology Indices includes three nationally representative metrics aimed at capturing people’s usage and experiences of harm and benefit across three critical technologies: social media, artificial intelligence (AI), and mixed reality (AR/VR). 

The Neely Social Media Index, Neely-UAS Artificial Intelligence (AI) Index, and Neely Mixed Reality Index are publicly available and represent America's first longitudinal, nationally representative analysis of social media, AI, and mixed reality user interactions.

Follow our live results HERE

  • An illustration from overhead showing people forming an arrow and bullseye.

  • We collect monthly data from a representative sample of US households on usage of and positive and negative experiences with specific social media platforms. Our hope is that this information can help stakeholders reward platforms that meaningfully connect and inform users, while holding accountable platforms that create negative experiences for users and society.

    RESULTS Neely Social Media Index
    NEWS

NEELY FELLOWS PROGRAM

The Neely Ethics & Technology Fellows Program aims to support visionary MBA students poised to become the next generation of technology leaders. Each cohort explores and guides the development of a new area of transformative technology. The 2023-24 cohort is focusing on mixed reality (AR/VR), with implications for entertainment, gaming, collaboration, education, and healthcare.

  • Priyanshu Bhatt

    Priyanshu Bhatt

    An innovation-focused professional with 11 years of extensive experience in technology services, tech-consulting, and project leadership, specializing in new product development and data analytics. Led global teams across Europe, North America, India, and Australia, delivering transformative solutions in Big Data, AI, Cloud, and Analytics. Currently enrolled in a leadership development program, cultivating a lifelong network. Excels in driving collaborative change, commercial software development, leveraging data for decisions, and fostering collaboration within diverse global teams.

  • Cindy (Ningxin) Chen

    Cindy (Ningxin) Chen

    Cindy (Ningxin) Chen has over ten years of experience in cross-border technology operations and venture investment. She has worked for the publicly listed online retailer JD.COM, as well as venture capital firms such as Comet Labs and WI Harper Group, where she was responsible for tech investments in semiconductors, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), intelligent manufacturing, among others. Additionally, she co-founded a SaaS platform for electronics manufacturing, where she successfully developed the business development and marketing team and formulated a global go-to-market strategy. Cindy holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Fudan University and is an MBA candidate at the University of Southern California. As a Fellow at the USC Neely Center, she is dedicated to researching ethical methods for investing venture capital funds within the technology sector, particularly in VR/AR.

  • Tejaswa Gavankar

    Tejaswa Gavankar

    Tejaswa is an MBA student and one of his leadership roles is heading emerging technology for the graduate technology club at USC Marshall. XR and Neely Center's work is a natural extension of this interest. He has an undergraduate degree in computer science from the College of Engineering Pune. He began his career at Credit Suisse, building technology products and has since moved into consulting. At KPMG, he advised aerospace and defense clients on growth strategy. And his MBA summer was with EY's technology strategy team where he plans to return full-time. He has also interned with Meta and HP Tech Venture in product marketing and corporate VC roles respectively. In his free time, he enjoys hiking and reading up on topics far removed from his profession.

  • Callie (Yu-Wen) Huang

    Callie (Yu-Wen) Huang

    Callie (Yu-Wen) Huang specializes in digital transformation and streamlining business processes with innovative solutions. She is passionate about exploring how advanced technologies, including mixed reality and AI, can boost corporate profits and drive business success. She is currently an MBA student at USC Marshall School and a fellow at the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making. Callie has a strong background in the tech industry, including working with an AI-powered startup in Silicon Valley and with Big 4 consulting firms. Demonstrating adept leadership, she led global team to upgrade the global operations system across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

  • Nicole Zara Oparaugo

    Nicole Zara Oparaugo

    Nicole "Zara" Oparaugo is a dual degree MD/MBA candidate. She is currently completing her MBA at USC Marshall School of Business and Medical school at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Zara is passionate about increasing access to health care and using technology to bridge gaps.

NETWORKS

  • ShiftSC

    ShiftSC

    The Neely Center is proud to support ShiftSC, a USC student-led organization that aims to catalyze a shift toward a socially responsible technological future.

    Learn more ShiftSC
  • Prosocial Design Network

    Prosocial Design Network

    The Prosocial Design Network (PDN) connects research to practice toward a world in which online spaces are healthy, productive, respect human dignity, and improve society. The Neely Center is delighted to sponsor PDN in Identifying, curating, and translating evidence-based solutions to build a better society.


    Learn More Prosocial Design Network
  • Psych of Tech Institute

    Psych of Tech Institute

    The Neely Center is excited to partner with the Psychology of Technology Research Network which is a non-profit consortium of behavioral scientists, technology designers, and decision-makers that protects and improves psychological health for society by advancing our understanding and effective use of transformative technologies...

    LEARN MORE Psych of Tech Institute

EVENTS

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TEAM

  • Nathanael Fast

    Nathanael Fast
    • Associate Professor of Management and Organization
    • Director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making
    • Co-Director of the Psychology of Technology Institute

    Nathanael Fast studies the psychological underpinnings of power, leadership, and technology adoption. His research examines how power and status hierarchies shape decision making, how people’s identities shape their professional networks, and how AI is shaping the future.

    Fast is Director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making and Co-Director of the Psychology of Technology Institute.

    He received his PhD in Organizational Behavior from Stanford University and has been recognized for both teaching and research, including USC’s Golden Apple Teaching Award, the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, and Poets & Quants "best 40 B-school profs under the age of 40.

  • Juliana Schroeder

    Juliana Schroeder

    • Affiliate Faculty Director

    Juliana Schroeder is the Harold Furst Chair in Management Philosophy and Values Professor at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.Schroeder is a behavioral scientist who researches the psychological processes by which people think about the minds of other people, particularly in workplace contexts. The attributions that people make about others’ minds are consequential because they underlie decisions about how to interact with others, such as whether to help or harm them. For instance, determining whether a negotiation partner is trustworthy affects willingness to cooperate. Determining whether an outgroup member is competent affects moral concern for their well-being. Schroeder uses experiments to understand how people make inferences about other minds, and test the consequences of their inferences.

  • Ravi Iyer

    Ravi Iyer
    • Managing Director, Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making
    • Managing Director, Psychology of Technology Institute

    Ravi Iyer is a technologist and academic psychologist working to improve technology's impact on society. He is currently the Research Director for the USC Marshall School's Neely Center.


  • Carsten Becker

    Carsten Becker

    • Program Advisor, Neely Ethics & Technology Fellows Program

    Carsten Becker is faculty lead for extended reality at the Iovine and Young Academy for the Arts, Technology and Business of Innovation. Joining USC in 2019 as a lecturer for design and communication, he developed the academy’s curriculum in exploring creative technologies for the development of purpose-driven narratives and impact. He has created many industry connections for the academy and USC including with Niantic, Nike, Meta, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Snap and teaches courses related to extended reality, spatial computing and other narrative technologies for IYA bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

FACULTY + FELLOWS

  • Scott Wiltermuth

    Scott Wiltermuth
    • Professor of Management and Organization

    Scott Wiltermuth researches how socio-environmental factors affect people’s reactions to unethical behavior and their likelihood of behaving unethically themselves. He also researches how interpersonal dynamics, such as synchrony and dominance, affect people’s willingness to cooperate with others. He has published papers in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Science, Academy of Management Journal, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and numerous other academic journals. His work has been reported in many media outlets, including: The Economist, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. Previously, he worked in the airline industry as a strategy consultant.

  • Kalinda Ukanwa

    Kalinda Ukanwa
    • Assistant Professor of Marketing

    Dr. Kalinda Ukanwa is Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern California. A quantitative modeler, Professor Ukanwa researches how algorithmic bias, algorithmic decision-making, and consumer reputations impact firms. She is the winner of the 2018 Eli Jones Promising Young Scholar Award and a finalist for the 2018 INFORMS Service Science Best Student Paper Award, 2019 Howard/AMA Doctoral Dissertation Award, and the 2020 AMS Mary Kay Doctoral Dissertation Award. In a prior life, Professor Ukanwa was an industrial engineer, financial analyst, and finance executive at Walt Disney, Citigroup, Viacom, and Kaplan.

  • Leigh Tost

    Leigh Tost
    • Vice Dean for MBA Programs
    • Associate Professor of Management and Organization

    Leigh Plunkett Tost studies the psychological and sociological dynamics of hierarchy and diversity in organizations. Her research on hierarchy focuses on questions about how power differences in teams and organizations affect team performance and ethical decision making. Her work on diversity examines people’s attitudes about diversity and explores the unintended consequences of diversity initiatives. Her research has been published in a broad range of academic journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Personality and Social Psychology Review, and Psychological Science. In addition, the implications of her research have been discussed in numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Forbes, and Harvard Business Review.

NEWS

INSIGHT + ANALYSIS

Neely Newsletter

  • Neely Fellows Group

    July 2024, Issue 5

    LINK

  • Speaker in classroom in front of screen

    April 2024, Issue 4

    LINK

  • Speaker and panel in front of a screen

    February 2024, Issue 3

    LINK

  • Committee gathered around a conference table

    November 2023, Issue 2

    LINK

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    Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making
    USC Marshall School of Business
    3660 Trousdale Pkwy, Suite 216 ACC
    Los Angeles, CA 90089
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