Ayaj Rana

Welcome! I am a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR), advised by Professors Adam Seth Litwin, Forrest Briscoe, JR Keller, and Michael Maffie. My research adopts a macro-organizational perspective to study how technological and institutional changes reconfigure the governance of work and, in turn, reshape identity, relationships, and outcomes in contemporary workplaces. Alongside my doctoral research, I serve as a Graduate Resident Fellow at Cornell University's Alice Cook House, where I mentor resident undergraduates and support the House’s living-learning programs.

My current lines of research examine how emerging systems of organizational coordination alter the resources, practices, and meanings that define work across digital platforms, AI-enabled settings, and varying firm structures. Methodologically, I use surveys and field experiments alongside ethnography, interviews, and archival analysis, often in complementary, multi-method designs. My research has been honored with the Academy of Management (AOM) Best Paper Award, AOM OB Division's Award for Outstanding Paper with Practical Implications for Management, and Cornell ILR School's Benjamin Millar Award.  

Before beginning my Ph.D. at Cornell, I earned a Master of Public Policy (MPP) at Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies as a Fulbright student. There, I served as a Public Finance Fellow researching Georgia's tax and employment policies, and as a Georgia Innovative Economic Development Intern at Georgia Tech's Enterprise Innovation Institute, studying high-tech entrepreneurship. 

I began my academic career at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, where I completed both my bachelor’s and a master’s in development studies before joining the Department of Development Studies as a lecturer and subsequently as an assistant professor. I taught courses on public policy and institutions, public finance, and quantitative research methods, while also engaging in research and project management consulting across government, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations. 

When I’m not working, I love taking walks with my three-year-old daughter, staying engaged with U.S. and Bangladesh politics, and unwinding through cricket, badminton, soccer, and photography.