Dear UWM Colleagues,
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Purush Papatla, the NMDSI Professor of Marketing in the Lubar College of Business and Co-Director of the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute (NMDSI), on his retirement from UWM. Dr. Papatla joined UWM as an Assistant Professor of Marketing in 1988 and has served as NMDSI co-director since 2019. His last day will be August 7.
Dr. Papatla is a nationally recognized leader in the applications of data science and AI to consumer behavior and marketing analytics. His research brings together perspectives from several disciplines, such as engineering, psychology, anthropology, linguistics, visual arts, and business, to better understand how people interact with textual, pictorial, audio, video, and other content, and how those interactions influence decision-making. His work examined topics ranging from how product images influence purchasing behavior on online retailing sites, how the characteristics of audio in TV commercials affect whether audiences watch them fully, how tweets should be composed to make them more viral, how public health campaigns should be designed so as to increase compliance, and how consumers make transportation choices in the rideshare economy.
As co-director of NMDSI, he helped guide the strategic direction of a transformative partnership between Northwestern Mutual, UWM and Marquette that invested $40 million to advance data science education, research, workforce development, and technological innovation across southeastern Wisconsin. His leadership helped establish UWM as a key contributor to the region’s growing reputation as a center for data science and technology talent. Dr. Papatla has also helped expand data science education at UWM, leading the development of new degree and certificate programs in Data Science and Applied Artificial Intelligence that introduced students from a wide range of academic backgrounds and disciplines to the power and potential of data and Artificial Intelligence.
Dr. Papatla has made many contributions to UWM through his research, teaching, and service. o His efforts have supported students, colleagues, and a variety of university and community initiatives over the years. Congratulations, Purush, on your retirement, and thank you for your many years of service to UWM. We wish you all the best in retirement.
Best,
Tina Freiburger, PhD
Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs