Press Release

Amar Gupta recognized with second consecutive IBM Faculty Award

Eller College professor honored for research achievements

TUCSON, Ariz. – April 14, 2008 – For the second year in a row, Amar Gupta, Thomas R. Brown Chair in Management and Technology at The University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management, is the recipient of the prestigious IBM Faculty Award.

The IBM Faculty Award program is designed to foster collaboration between researchers at leading universities worldwide and those in IBM research, development, and services organizations. It also promotes coursework and curriculum innovation to stimulate growth in disciplines and in regions that are strategic to IBM. The company looks worldwide to find deserving recipients.

IBM distinguished engineers Kenneth Day and Kenneth Boyd of Tucson, Ariz., are working closely with Gupta as he continues to refine his research on the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory production model. Boyd is currently on assignment in Tel Aviv and is using some of Gupta’s ideas. He commented, “I'm delighted that Dr. Gupta has received a second consecutive Faculty Award from IBM.  His leadership in the 24 Hour Knowledge Factory and other approaches to efficient use of global resources is an important area of research.  IBM is delighted to have a productive and on-going relationship with Dr. Gupta in this pioneering research."

“Professor Gupta’s work exemplifies the close connections to the real world that we at the Eller College want our faculty to have. We are pleased that IBM continues to recognize the important work of our faculty,” said Paul Portney, dean of the Eller College.

An expert in outsourcing and offshoring, Gupta has done significant work on the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory, a production model that transcends time and space. The 24-Hour Knowledge Factory paradigm establishes that each member of a globally distributed team works the normal workday hours that pertain to his or her time zone. At the end of the workday, a fellow team member located in a different time zone continues the same task. With three sets of individuals performing work over a 24-hour period, the time needed to develop information systems is drastically reduced. Gupta’s paradigm will apply to a broad spectrum of business functions ranging from medical services to logistics planning, and from financial analysis to product design.

The Eller College of Management at The University of Arizona is internationally recognized for pioneering research, innovative curriculum, distinguished faculty, excellence in entrepreneurship, and social responsibility. U.S.News & World Report ranks the Eller undergraduate program #12 among public business schools and five of its departments are among the top 25 — Entrepreneurship, MIS, Marketing, Management and Organizations, and Accounting. The MPA program in the School of Public Administration and Policy ranks in the top 50. Financial Times ranks the Eller MBA full-time program #27 in the U.S. and #57 in the world, and Forbes ranks the program among the top 50 nationwide. The College leads the nation’s business schools in generating grant funds for research. In addition to a full-time MBA program, the Eller College offers an evening MBA program, and the Eller Executive MBA. The Eller College of Management supports more than 5,100 undergraduate and 600 graduate students on the UA campus in beautiful Tucson, Arizona.

Press Contact:
Linda Herrick, Eller College Public Relations and Events Coordinator
520.626.2590, news@eller.arizona.edu