Elliot Shin Oblander

About Me:

  • I am a doctoral student in the Marketing division of the Columbia Business School.
  • My research is focused on empirical modeling of human behavior using a broad variety of methods from econometrics, statistics, and machine learning.
  • Some of my current research interests include statistical methodology, causal inference, industrial organization, and ethics/fairness in targeted marketing.

Curriculum Vitae:

  • See my most current CV here.

Contact Info:

Education:

  • Ph.D. Marketing, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University (August 2018 - Present)
    • Quantitative track
  • B.Sc. Economics, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (August 2013 – May 2018)
    • Honors: Summa Cum Laude, Dean's Award for Excellence
    • Concentrations: Statistics and Actuarial Science
    • Minors: Mathematics and Japanese Studies
    • GPA 3.95/4.00, Dean's List 2013–2018
  • Exchange Student, Faculty of Economics at Hitotsubashi University (March 2017 – August 2017)
    • GPA 4.30/4.30

Research:

Under Review and Working Papers

  • McCarthy, Daniel; Oblander, Elliot (2019). "Leveraging Scalable Data Fusion to Enhance Customer Base Predictions." Revision requested at Marketing Science.
  • Oblander, Elliot Shin; Gupta, Sunil; Mela, Carl F.; Winer, Russell S.; Lehmann, Donald R. (2019). "The Past, Present, and Future of Customer Management." Under review.

Published and Forthcoming Papers

  • Oblander, Elliot; Park, Sojung Carol; Lemaire, Jean (2016). "The Cost of High Suicide Rates in Japan and the Republic of Korea: Reduced Life Expectancies." Asia-Pacific Population Journal, 31(2), 21-44.

Teaching:

Past Teaching Assistantships

  • Spring 2016, Summer 2016, Spring 2017, Summer 2017, Fall 2017, and Spring 2018: Applied Probability Models in Marketing, Professor Peter Fader
    • Spring 2016, Spring 2017, and Spring 2018: Wharton Undergraduate/MBA cross-listed course
    • Summer 2016, Summer 2017, and Fall 2017: Wharton Executive MBA course
  • Fall 2015: Risk Management, Professor Gregory Nini
    • Wharton Undergraduate/MBA cross-listed course

Doctoral Coursework:

Columbia University

  • Economics
    • Econometrics I: Professors Gregory Cox & Jose Luis Montiel Olea, Fall 2018
    • Econometrics II: Professors Jushan Bai & Simon Lee, Spring 2019
    • Industrial Organization III: Professor Andrey Simonov, Spring 2019
    • Micro-Econometrics: Professor Simon Lee, Fall 2019
  • Marketing
    • Analytical Models: Professor Kinshuk Jerath, Fall 2018
    • Consumer Behavior I: Professors Michel Pham & Bernd Schmitt, Fall 2018
    • Empirical Models: Professor Asim Ansari, Fall 2018
    • Mathematical Models: Professor Rajeev Kohli, Fall 2019
    • Bridging Behavioral Economics and Marketing Science: Professor Ran Kivetz, Fall 2019
  • Statistics and Computer Science
    • Foundations of Graphical Models: Professor David Blei, Fall 2018
    • Applied Causality: Professor David Blei, Spring 2019

University of Pennsylvania

  • Computer Science
    • Machine Learning: Professor Shivani Agarwal, Spring 2018
  • Marketing
    • Empirical Models in Marketing: Professor Eric Bradlow, Spring 2017
  • Statistics and Biostatistics
    • Bayesian Methods and Computation: Professor Shane Jensen, Spring 2016
    • Big Data for Biomedical Research: Professor Hongzhe Li, Fall 2016
    • Statistical Methodology: Professor Andreas Buja, Fall 2017
  • Operations Research
    • Stochastic Processes I: Professor Maria Rieders, Fall 2015
    • Stochastic Processes II: Professor Maria Rieders, Spring 2016
    • Dynamic Programming: Professor Maria Rieders, Spring 2016

Hitotsubashi University

  • Economics
    • Advanced Industrial Economics: Professor Kohei Kawaguchi, Summer 2017
    • Advanced Microeconomics: Professor Norio Takeoka, Spring & Summer 2017

Student Testimonials:

Anonymous student comments from end-of-term course evaluations (Summer 2016)

  • "Elliot, the T/A, was awesome! He seems to know the material almost as well as the professor! He is very supportive, easy going, and extremely helpful. He is far and away the best T/A I've experienced in the program. He really went the extra mile for our class. You should give him some award or something. I'm confident he will do amazing things in his future!"
  • "Elliot was a fantastic TA. Very accessible and understood the concepts very well. He could be an instructor. Hold on to him!"
  • "Shout out to Elliot Oblander, our TA. He was really excellent in supporting Professor Fader and doing the 'mop up' with us after our brains were completely blown out. He was very, very accessible outside of class... and you can tell he really gets this stuff and likes helping students. He will be a great professor someday, if that's what he wants to do."

Awards and Grants:

  • Columbia University Provost Diversity Fellow (2018).
  • Casualty Actuaries of the Mid-Atlantic Region Scholarship Recipient (2016).
  • Two-time Wharton Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) Scholar (2015 & 2016).

Talks and Media:

  • Knowledge@Wharton article on my paper on suicide rates in Japan and South Korea.
  • Panelist for Our Penn San Francisco alumni event with Penn President Amy Gutmann in November 2016 (photos).
  • Talk at Penn Libraries "Engaging Students Through Technology" Faculty Symposium in October 2015 (video).

Other fun facts:

  • I passed the Society of Actuaries preliminary exam series in 2015.
  • I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon.
  • I grew up speaking English and Japanese (thanks to my Japanese/English translator parents), and also studied Mandarin Chinese for 6 years in high school and college.
  • I was formerly a Japanese and Chinese studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences, specializing in gender and sexuality studies.
  • Sometimes I like to make satirical redesigns of school logos, such as for Penn, Wharton, and Columbia Business School.