UCSB Technology Management Welcomes Fares Ahmad, Brandon Lepine to Ph.D. Program

Technology Management, a Department within UC Santa Barbara's College of Engineering, has welcomed two additional students to its growing Ph.D. in Technology Management program. Fares Ahmad and Brandon Lepine bring unique insights into their scholarship, including leadership experience within the technology sector.

Fares Ahmad earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida and his Master of Social Science from UCLA. He has over a decade of international experience scaling technologies for organizations such as Procter & Gamble, Apple, Boeing, and GE Aviation. Fares is currently studying the intersection of compassion and technology. His research interests include identity; informal structures; AI; technology implementation; perceived similarity; trust; qualitative, inductive, field research; cross-level analyses; computational social science; ethnography; empathic concern; emerging technologies, and the future of work.

Brandon Lepine studied Business Administration, concentrating in Finance, at the Boston University Questrom School of Business and graduated in 2019. Following graduation, he worked in operations management roles in the e-commerce sector. He then obtained his Masters in Business Analytics from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is primarily interested in adoption factors related to AI-based healthcare informatics tools used to support clinician decision-making and their efficacy in attenuating implicit bias in healthcare delivery. Other areas of interest include the implications of wearable tech on patient recovery and treatment plan compliance and the role of AI in the finance sector.

Approved by UCSB's College of Engineering in 2016, the Ph.D. in Technology Management admitted its first cohort of students in 2017. Designed to produce exceptional scholars in technology-related work, technological change, and innovation, the program seeks students who are expected to go on to research and teach at top universities across the country and the world. Unique to the program is student access to – and ability to collaborate with – world-renowned faculty in the interdisciplinary fields of organizational, technology, and innovation management. Learn more about UCSB's Ph.D. in Technology Management.