Krannert professor recognized with 2020 Faculty Commercialization Award
Friday, May 29, 2020
Mohammad Rahman, an associate professor in information systems at the Krannert School, is the 2020 recipient of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) Faculty Commercialization Award for his innovative technology startup RightFit Analytics, a precision health focused evidence-driven prescriptive analytics solution for healthcare that utilizes artificial intelligence to learn success patterns.
The award is given annually to a faculty member in recognition of outstanding contributions to, and success with, commercializing Purdue research discoveries. It was established with an endowment gift from the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Foundation.
Arnold Chen, managing director of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship in Purdue’s Discovery Park, nominated Rahman for the award.
“Growing changes in healthcare payment models and care delivery motivate health systems to focus on reducing variation in care quality,” said Chen in his nomination. “RightFit is developing an AI-powered analytics platform that leverages historical data to determine physician strengths with respect to patient characteristics. Hospitals stand to gain by leveraging historical data on this variability to make evidence-driven decisions regarding their operations.”
RightFit’s commercialization activity has led Rahman to collaborate with some of the healthcare leaders in the state, including Parkview Hospital and the Regenstrief Institute. “All indications provide a bright future for taking the innovation to market,” Chen said.
Rahman, who was named one of the World's Top 40 Business School Professors Under 40 by Poets and Quants in 2017, participated in the Burton D. Morgan Center’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Academy in 2017-2018 and was honored with the Gold Award, the highest recognition bestowed by the academy.
Rahman’s research interests include digital transformations, big data, omni-channel retailing, technology usage, retail and web analytics, and consumer behavior and decision-making. His work has been published in major journals including Management Science, Information Systems Research, and MIT Sloan Management Review. He was recognized by INFORMS Information Systems Society (ISS) with the Sandy Slaughter Early Career Award in 2018 and by Krannert in 2015 with the Jay N. Ross Young Faculty Scholar Award.
"Our school excels in using data-driven analysis to take highly advanced technical products to the marketplace," says David Hummels, the Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Krannert School. "Professor Rahman personifies this approach. We're thrilled that he has been recognized with this award, and he will serve as a role model for other faculty to emulate."
Rahman says Krannert’s resources, including Purdue's NSF I-Corps Site and Krannert Alumni Relations Team, have been valuable for his achievements.
“I am truly honored by this award,” he says. “Purdue has many eminent scholars who are conducting world-changing and inspiring research while working toward commercialization, and I’m grateful to be part of this community.”