Rong Zhong

Email Address: ronzhong@uic.edu
College: Business Administration Department: Accounting
Title: Associate Professor
Office: UH 2313
Webpage: https://business.uic.edu/profiles/zhong-rong-irene/
Participating in the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Awards program: Yes

Research Interest:
My research employs large-scale datasets, textual analysis, and statistical modeling to examine how corporate practices—such as financial reporting and governance mechanisms—affect innovation outcomes and long-term value creation. We explore timely questions such as how firms adapt to environmental pressures, how AI and media shape investor decisions, and how transparency influences firm behavior.

Minimum time commitment in hours per week: 10

Qualifications of a Student:
Students from all majors are welcome—there is no preference for specific majors. However, backgrounds in the following areas may be especially helpful:

Accounting, Finance, or Economics (strong analytical thinking and interest in corporate behavior)

Computer Science or Engineering (data handling, algorithm development, NLP)

Information Systems or Data Science (applied analytics, large-scale data projects)

Minimum Requirements:

A minimum GPA of 3.2

Proficiency in Python is essential, particularly for textual analysis (e.g., NLP, regular expressions, topic modeling)

Familiarity with at least one of the following: Stata, SAS, machine learning libraries (e.g., scikit-learn, TensorFlow)

Strong attention to detail and commitment to high-quality, reproducible work

Brief Summary of what is expected from the student:
Perform hands-on textual analysis using Python (e.g., analyzing firm disclosures, news articles, or patent filings)

Conduct quantitative data analysis using statistical software and large databases

Maintain organized, well-documented code and data workflows

Meet regularly to discuss project progress and share findings

Engage critically with academic research and help translate ideas into empirical strategies

Contact researcher via URE Email Webform

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