This week’s Student Spotlight features an exceptional graduate student, Valentina Hurtado Uribe! Valentina is in the process of completing her MS degree while working as a Graduate Assistant in the Marketing Department at Missouri State University.

Valentina Hurtado Uribe is a graduate student getting her Master’s in Project Management and Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics here at Missouri State University. Valentina considers herself to be an organized, task-oriented person. So, she decided to pursue a Master’s in Project Management, while working in the Marketing Department as a graduate research assistant for Dr. Ismet Anitsal.

Originally from Colombia, South America, Valentina will be graduating this upcoming spring of 2023. She recently made two research presentations in two different academic conferences in one week; namely, 2022 Atlantic Marketing Association Conference and 2022 Institute for Global Business Research Fall International Conference. The first paper titled, “Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Delivering Services: Nature of Service Robot and Customer Interactions,” was presented in-person, while the second paper titled, “Emergence of Service Robots and Their Impact on Customers: Task-Oriented Physical Robot Deployment by Skills” was presented virtually. Both manuscripts are in the process of being submitted to two different refereed academic journals for review and publication. Both research studies were conducted alongside the help of Marketing Department Head, Dr. Ismet Anitsal, and Dr. M. Meral Anitsal.

We decided to interview her to learn more about her research work and experience attending two academic conferences, as well as her experiences working as a GA in Marketing Department.

Q. How long have you been working as a GA for the Marketing Department and how has been your experience so far?

“I started working as a GA for the Marketing Department at the beginning of Spring 2022. So far, it has been a great experience and a great opportunity to learn and gain some experience while finishing my studies. I have shared experiences with mentors and other GAs, and we have all formed a great team to collaborate in the Marketing Department, which has also been supportive with us, since it has emphasized that our priority as GAs will always be our studies.”

Q. Tell us a little bit about your work as a GA for the marketing department; what do you do?

“I work as a research specialist. My main job is collaborating with research in the department, and in some cases co-authoring research documents with mentors, Dr. Ismet Anitsal and Dr. Meral Anitsal. So far, we have developed two research papers that were presented during the month of September 2022.“

Q. What were the research papers about?

“The first paper was presented in-person in Savannah, Georgia at the 2022 Atlantic Marketing Conference. The paper was titled “Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Delivering Services: Nature of Service Robot and Customer Interactions”. The second paper was presented virtually at the 2022 Institute for Global Business Research Fall International Conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada. This paper was titled “Emergence of Service Robots and Their Impact on Customers: Task-Oriented Physical Robot Deployment by Skills.”

Q. How was your experience writing the papers and presenting them?

“Being a research specialist has been a great opportunity for me. Since I was doing my bachelor’s degree back in Colombia, I wanted to have an opportunity to improve my writing skills, which I consider as a fundamental skill for any professional, but unfortunately it was not possible at that time. However, MSU and the Marketing Department gave the opportunity, and thanks to that, I have improved my analytical and research-oriented writing skills, while also improving my English and expanding my vocabulary. I started writing the first paper for my GA position and at the same time I decided to take MKT 796: Independent Study in Marketing class with Dr. Ismet Anitsal, and as a result, we completed the second paper. We were able to finish both documents in late spring 2022, just a couple of months before presenting them at two conferences.”

“The presentations were also a great experience. I was able to meet different marketing students and professors from universities across the US, and hear about the research that is currently being done in different schools besides MSU. At my presentation, I was personally very nervous and scared, as it was my first major academic presentation in English (not my native language) representing my alma mater MSU. However, my mentors were very supportive, and we managed to make a great presentation at both conferences.”

Q. What are your plans or ambitions post-graduation?

“Both manuscripts are in the process of being submitted to two different refereed academic journals for review and publication. We are currently working on two more papers that are expected to be finished by Spring 2023. The topic of these papers are focused on automated trucks in the U.S. trucking industry. These papers are being developed with the co-authors, Dr. Ismet Anitsal, Dr. Meral Anitsal, myself, and another MSU student, Joe Reed. We are looking to present these papers in two different conferences, and plan to later submit to different academic journals.”

Q. How has this GA position have influenced those plans?

“This GA position has given my first opportunity of working in the U.S. The opportunity to meet and interact with marketing faculty and to enjoy and become more interested in research. After I graduate, I would like to gain some more experience in my field of study, but I might consider keeping studying, and maybe dedicate myself to university teaching.”

Valentina Hurtado Uribe was in Dr. Ismet Anitsal’s MKT 796 – Independent Study in Marketing class in spring 2022. Dr. Anitsal, Department Head of Marketing Department says, “She is very disciplined and organized professional with a bachelor’s degree from Universidad del Quindío, Colombia. She is completing her MS in Project Management degree here at Missouri State University.”

Congratulations, Valentina! Well done!!