People | Graduate Students
Ryland Sherman
Information:
PhD Student
Department of Telecommunications
rysherma'at' indiana 'dot' edu
Links:
Resume
Biography:
I am a passionate lifelong learner with a strong interest in too many subjects to list. As a futurist, I am fascinated by the continuing shift from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, which has been fueled by continuous and dramatic breakthroughs in communications technologies. Any attempts to understand and study the full range of consequences of this shift must be interdisciplinary. The Indiana University Department of Telecommunications recognizes this fact and encourages its students to draw from many disciplines to synthesize novel theories and research directions. Borrowing a line from Professor Sawhney, I am drawn towards IU Telecommunications because it offers so many points of intersection among my wide range of interests.
I have two main lines of research interests. First, I enjoy understanding how technologies have fundamentally altered the ways in which entire industries (and their constituent companies) have organized themselves. The large industrial organizations comprised of hierarchical management pyramids have given way to dynamic webs of interconnected and mutable small business units, placing ever greater emphasis on information- and innovation-oriented labor and dramatically transforming the labor market. I draw upon economics, business law, organizational theories and history to analyze these broad trends and hope to someday shape legal and organizational policy discourse to improve life in the face of dramatic change.
Second, I am fascinated with all industries whose primary value stems from the production and distribution of the immaterial, embodied in and protected by intellectual property. Sharing a variety of fundamental economic properties, media, telecommunications, and technology industries are shaped by the subtleties of intellectual property law, making them particularly susceptible to some very interesting policy issues. Due to the rapid rate of disruptive technological innovation found in these industries, their business models are also particularly volatile, leading to arguably the most difficult strategy decisions in all of private enterprise. I use economics, I. P. law and policy, business strategy theories, and project and process management concepts to analyze issues found in these industries.
I am excited to be part of the IU Telecommunications PhD program, where I will use the opportunity to develop the skill set necessary to perform professional-caliber business research in either a private or university setting. After a 3 year detour away from the quantitative skill set I had cultivated as an economics student at the College of the University of Chicago, I plan to reinforce the statistical and mathematical skills I had been dusting off in assorted MBA classes by acquiring a minor in statistics. With the ample opportunities to apprentice with the department's professors, I also hope to further practice my research design, writing, presentation and teaching skills.
Personal Preferences: I love groups and meetings, so I generally prefer group projects over solitary work. I enjoy experiencing nature (especially near, on, or in the water), modern art and design, strategy games, museums, and media of all forms. I exist on a steady diet of magazines, including The Economist, Popular Science, Wired, Motor Trend, and a variety of video game publications. I also love great conversation, eclectic food and going on zany adventures, so if you are interested in any of the above, please feel encouraged to strike up a conversation with me. J
