May 2025: Dr. Kathleen Park (MET)
Dr. Kathleen Park is an assistant professor of administrative sciences, with specializations in strategic and international management and the management of innovation and technology. Her research interests are at the intersection of innovation, internationalization through mergers and acquisitions, global strategy, emerging markets, leadership, management and entrepreneurial teams, and corporate governance. She is a graduate of Harvard University and the MBA and PhD programs of the MIT Sloan School of Management. Dr. Park has presented her research worldwide at conferences in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, and North America. Her work has been recognized with awards by the Academy of Management, the flagship organization for management scholars worldwide, as well as by the Global Business and Technology Association and the European Academy of Management. In her affiliations, she has formed international research partnerships for the study of leadership, innovation, and internationalization in emerging markets.
What made you decide to be a social scientist/why does social science matter to you?
I became a social scientist because I’ve always been fascinated by how systems—whether markets, institutions, or organizations—both enable and constrain human agency. Management science, for me, is the applied laboratory of social science: it gives us the tools to ask not just “why?” but “what now?” Social science matters because it allows us to trace power, identity, and transformation through complex, real-world challenges—in my research, for instance, in a topic range from carbon transitions to elite migration. Social science is additionally a way to surface buried dynamics, challenge assumptions, develop critical thinking, understand complexities, and co-create more sustainable futures. Plus, where else could I pivot from empirical data modeling to theorizing about status incongruence for global migrants or humanitarian and technological transformations through AI in supply chains—all before my next Pavement coffee break?
Can you tell us about a recent research project that you’re excited about?
I am currently working on a project that brings together neural network forecasting, energy transition policy, and global development trajectories. We use LSTM and GRU models to explore how emerging economies can navigate the transition from extractive energy dependence to lower-carbon energy futures—while also investigating what it means when machine learning generates growth surges and energy collapses in the same breath! This project is an example that lives at the intersection of data science, policy realism, and deep ethical questions, and it excites me because it combines methodological rigor with global urgency and the chance to rethink how we model transformation amidst multifaceted global turbulence.
What is a very good piece of professional advice you ever received?
One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was: “Write for the reader who does not yet know why they need your work.” That shifted everything for me—how I framed problems, structured arguments, and even designed courses. It reminds me to be both generous and strategic: generous in making my ideas legible and engaging, and strategic in speaking to multiple audiences. As a scholar trained at the nexus of strategy, entrepreneurship and innovation with a strong economic sociology and quantitative as well as qualitative analysis foundation, I look ideally to engage students, researchers, entrepreneurs, innovators, and all those trying to connect theory to their lived realities.
What is your favorite course you’ve taught at BU?
This question is a very difficult one because I have enjoyed and been inspired by all my students and courses. If I were selecting one, I would have to say our BU MET Innovation and Technology program core course, MET AD741 The Innovation Process: Developing New Products and Services. In this course, which has both campus and online versions, entrepreneurial imagination meets analytical discipline, and students begin to realize that innovation is not just about disruption. Innovation also involves listening, iterating, and converging creative solutions with human values. This course furthermore aligns closely with the mission and vision of the BU Center for Innovation in the Social Sciences and with the Innovation Pathway at Innovate@BU. I love watching students go from tentative ideation to bold venture proposals, and I always learn something new from the inventive ways they tackle pain points on a scale from local to national, regional and global. It truly a pleasure seeing entrepreneurial team pitches, tech ethics, and design thinking joyfully collide!
Tell us a surprising fact about yourself:
During graduate school, I did my study abroad in Berlin where I immersed myself in German language and literature as related to my sociology underpinnings. At the end of this intensive experience, I accidentally fell asleep in my airport seat while waiting for my return flight home to the US. I awoke to see the German police, who had come to check if I was all right. Still partly asleep, I began speaking to the two officers in German, only to very quickly switch to English and apologize for my lack of fluency. To my surprise, they smiled and said—in perfect English—“No, please continue in German. Your German is very good.” I ended up giving them a condensed version of my entire term abroad, in German, right there in the airport. It felt like the most unexpected, high-stakes final oral exam imaginable—and it gave me a lasting appreciation for the power of language learning, public speaking, and confidence-building, which I now try to instill in my own students.
During graduate school, I did my study abroad in Berlin where I immersed myself in German language and literature as related to my sociology underpinnings. At the end of this intensive experience, I accidentally fell asleep in my airport seat while waiting for my return flight home to the US. I awoke to see the German police, who had come to check if I was all right. Still partly asleep, I began speaking to the two officers in German, only to very quickly switch to English and apologize for my lack of fluency. To my surprise, they smiled and said—in perfect English—“No, please continue in German. Your German is very good.” I ended up giving them a condensed version of my entire term abroad, in German, right there in the airport. It felt like the most unexpected, high-stakes final oral exam imaginable—and it gave me a lasting appreciation for the power of language learning, public speaking, and confidence-building, which I now try to instill in my own students.