News

Our department had the pleasure of chatting with Kelly Behlen, an alumna of our Undergraduate Certificate and a former intern in our department, to talk about the impact Technology Management has had on her life, career, and more. Read her full interview to learn more about the path that took her from her Certificate and working as an intern in our department, to her exciting new leadership role at Cisco Meraki. 

As the usage of AI becomes more widespread, so do discussions about its ethics in the workplace and beyond. Many modern industries, such as the medical industry with the American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics, have established rules for appropriate practice that serve wider society, its clientele, and peers. As the AI industry gains its footing, how might its community come together to arrive at a similar, standardized code of ethics? What takes a discussion in a conference room and turns it into a rulebook that everyone can agree on? Assistant Professor Jessica J. Santana (UCSB), along with co-author Seonghoon Kim (National University of Singapore), tackles this question in their research.

Philanthropy is an incredibly important part of any university’s operations, but it is especially important for a public university like UCSB. For us in the Department of Technology Management, one significant source of donor support comes in the form of Endowed Chairs. These coveted chairs contribute heavily to the quality of our faculty lineup and the caliber of their research, as well as the accessibility of resources and funding for our students. Check out this Q&A and more about what Endowed Chairs bring to our department!

Happy Spring Quarter! Our department is excited to be putting together this retrospective on Winter 2025 and the beginning of Spring. Our programs are working hard preparing for graduation, key departmental events like the New Venture Competition (NVC) Finals, and more! We’d also like to highlight amazing new achievements like the launch of the E+TM Program and our PhD students’ advancement to candidacy. Read on for more details.

Manish Raghavan, Drew Houston (2005) Career Development Porfessor at the MIT Sloan School of Managaement and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Do you have a STEM background and are interested in gaining the business skills to lead technical teams? Do you have a humanities or social science background and want to prepare for a career in technology-driven organizations? No matter your background, UCSB’s Master of Technology Management (MTM) graduate program will give you the essential technology skills, business acumen, and entrepreneurial mindset to accelerate your career and expand your leadership opportunities within technology-driven firms.

Hatim Rahman, Associate Professor of Management and Organizations and Sociology (by courtesy) at Northwestern University

Laura Dabbish, Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII)

MTM Executive Director Erin Nerstad sat down with Benedetta and Francesco to hear more about why they joined MTM – both after previously studying at Politecnico di Milano in Italy. Both students discussed the highlights of their time with MTM so far, their thoughts on their cohort & on Santa Barbara, and more. Check out this Q&A to read more from the students themselves, and if you're interested, watch their video interview in Italian!

Manav Raj, Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Victoria studied computer engineering at UCSB before completing her MTM degree in 2020. She is currently a Senior Engineering Project Manager at Arthrex, a global medical device company and leader in new product development and medical education in orthopedics. When asked what career doors MTM opened up for her, she stated, "For me, MTM helped take me from solely an engineering background to learning about business, and learning about marketing, and product and project management, which I had never taken courses in." Check out more about Victoria in this in-depth profile!

Technology Management Week was an exciting journey into the heart of the Master of Technology Management (MTM) program! Throughout the week, faculty, industry experts, and current students shared their insights on the technical expertise, strategic thinking, and leadership training that drive our program. Check out this and more in our MTM newsletter from February 2025.