Research, Resilience, Reward

Back-to-school season is right around the corner, and that means that students will be returning to college campuses all across the country.  

But Bauer Ph.D. alumna Xi Chen won’t be returning as a student and is taking the first steps into her new career as tenure-track faculty at San Diego State University.  

Chen was a Ph.D. student in Finance at Bauer from 2019 to 2025, a time filled with many accomplishments. 

Associate Professor of Finance Zack Liu served as a mentor during her time as a Ph.D. student and eventually became Chen’s dissertation co-chair along with Cullen Distinguished University Chair and Professor of Finance Praveen Kumar. 

Chen’s research is investigating product markets and consumer goods, which Liu said can give insight into specific financial issues in the market. 

She said Liu gave her the freedom to explore topics she wanted to research and asked her to think about how she wanted to contribute to literature and the whole of society.

That advice paid off because, in 2023, Chen’s first research paper, “Initial Public Offerings and Product Market Dynamics: New Perspectives from the Nielsen Retail Scanner Data” with Jingxuan Zhang (University of Alberta), was selected as runner-up for the Outstanding Doctoral Student Paper at the Eastern Finance Association Annual Meeting. 

“After I got that award, I was very happy,” she said. “Working on research can be difficult, so getting this award encouraged me to continue.”  

She is currently working on improving that research project and building her portfolio, which includes new research with Assistant Professor of Finance Steffen Hitzemann. This research on renewable energy helped Chen get selected for the UH Chevron Energy Graduate Fellows Award in 2024.  

“Each year, they select eight candidates around the University of Houston,” Chen said. “I feel very lucky to be selected for this award, and I’m grateful for the funding from the Chevron Fellowship. I also appreciate Professor Steffen Hitzemann for encouraging me to apply for this award.”  

Chen said that she felt supported by the faculty at Bauer who helped prepare her for her career and gave her the encouragement needed to present her work to a larger audience. She hopes to pay it forward by inspiring the students at San Diego State University.  

“San Diego State serves a large population of first-generation college students,” she said. “Using my own experience as a first-generation college student, I want to help them succeed by providing advice and inspiration. I know there will be a lot of difficulties, but, if you work hard and if you find what you really like to do, then you can and will succeed.” 

Thanks to the experiences and opportunities granted to her at Bauer, Chen is excited to step into this new faculty role and continue her research career with a focus on corporate finance and product markets.