Research Rookies Student Profiles

Name: Dedric Richardson

Cohort: Freshman Research Rookie

Major: Finance

Hometown: Chicago, Illinois

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Adam Yore

Freshman Dedric Richardson has big goals, and he is working hard to achieve them. Ideally, Dedric would someday like to own an investment banking firm, or work in the finance department of a large automobile company. Of course, Dedric knows this will take a lot of work, which is why he turned to Research Rookies to help him toward his goals.

Dedric is currently working with Dr. Adam Yore to assess manners of indiscretion and ethics within large public companies. Specifically, this project is researching what sort of an impact employee’s personal actions have on the value of the company they work for. Their theory is that even if the employee’s make bad decisions on their personal time, it could decrease the value of the company, especially during events such as a recession or post-bailout. To do this, Dedric will look through databases to find situations where there was executive misconduct, and see if it negatively affected the employee’s company. If Dedric can find enough supporting evidence of his theory, it could provide employers and employees with information about how the private and work environments could affect everyone during an economic depression.

Research Rookies has provided him with valuable tools for his future. He has made connections and gained experience. And, he is looking forward to sharing his findings with his family and friends and the public upon the completion of his project.

Dedric on what being a Research Rookie means: “Being a Research Rookie means I have a chance to start early and learn what I would need to know for my future.”