Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne's research and teaching activities focus on data science, artificial intelligence, forecasting, project management and behavioral decision-making. Her research is published in numerous academic and professional journals, and she is a regular speaker at international conferences. Prof. Grushka-Cockayne is an award-winning teacher, winning the Darden Morton Leadership Faculty Award in 2011, the University of Virginia's Mead-Colley Award in 2012, the Darden Outstanding Faculty Award in 2013 and 2022, University of Virginia All University Teaching Award in 2015, the Faculty Diversity Award in 2013 and 2018, and the Transformational Faculty Award in 2024.
Before starting her academic career, she worked in San Francisco as a marketing director of an ERP company. As an expert in the areas of project management, Prof. Grushka-Cockayne has served as a consultant to international firms in the aerospace and pharma industries. She is a member of INFORMS, the Past-President of the Decision Analysis Society, and a member the Project Management Institute (PMI). She serves as an associate editor at Management Science and Operation Research.
Grushka-Cockayne was named one of "21 Thought-Leader Professors" in Data Science. Her course "Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management" Coursera MOOC has over 300,000 enrolled and her "Data Science for Business" Harvard Online course, launched in 2021, has taught hundreds of learners around the world.
