Two VCU accounting doctoral candidates are tallying major milestones since first testing early dissertation ideas in a departmental brown-bag session.

Ben Chapin (Ph.D. ‘27) is preparing to begin data collection in the Customer Experience Lab at the VCU School of Business for a dissertation on emotional responses to AI-generated feedback. Wenhao Zhu (Ph.D. ’26) is running an experiment on participative budgeting, testing whether and how contract design affects employee reporting behavior. His work is supported by a $10,000 Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) grant as he prepares to move to Kansas for his first faculty position.

When Chapin and Zhu presented their research in a brown-bag session in 2024, both were at an earlier point in the dissertation process. Their proposals had not yet been defended, and much of the work was still being refined through faculty questions and seminar feedback.

Chapin, who successfully defended his proposal last May, said one of the clearest signs of progress came in January, when he took part in a mentorship program through the American Accounting Association’s Management Accounting Section meeting. He was paired with Anne Farrell, Ph.D., of Miami University, whose research closely overlaps with the method he is using in his dissertation.

She reviewed his design, offered written comments and talked through the kind of evidence journals and reviewers would want to see. Chapin said her feedback was especially helpful because she has worked with the same tools he is now using in the lab: eye tracking and galvanic skin response.

“She was generous with her time,” said Chapin. “Handwritten notes on my paper … I was like, this is great. This is like, someone wrote me a letter.”

Chapin’s research looks at accounting through a behavioral lens. Before entering the Ph.D. program, he worked in corporate accounting, and before that he was a classically trained musician. Those experiences fed his interest in how people respond to incentives, feedback and evaluation.

“I didn’t deal a whole lot with taxes,” said Chapin. “But I dealt a whole lot with people.”

That focus carries into his lab study, which requires participants to come in person and complete a controlled experiment designed to capture real-time reactions to AI-generated feedback. With university approval secured, Chapin is preparing to begin data collection.

Zhu is at a different stage of the same process, continuing data collection while preparing to defend his dissertation and leave Richmond for his first faculty job.

When Zhu looks back on the brown-bag presentation, he remembers feeling relieved. He had just passed comprehensive exams, started teaching and was still adjusting to the scope of the Ph.D. program.

“I just finished the comps, so I felt, like, 10 pounds lighter,” said Zhu. At the time, he added, he still had “very little idea what I’m getting into.”

Since then, Zhu has continued teaching, collected data for an additional study, moved further into his dissertation and navigated the academic job market, including the additional uncertainty international students can face during the process.

He accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position at a university in Kansas, where he expects to begin in August. Before leaving Richmond, Zhu is continuing the experiment supported by the IMA grant, which grew out of a long connection to the organization and alignment with his research topic.

Kip Krumwiede, Ph.D., Zhu’s dissertation committee member and a term instructor in the Department of Accounting, introduced him to the opportunity. Once Zhu’s dissertation topic came into focus, the grant felt like a natural fit.

“Kip navigated me through the whole process,” said Zhu. “He was so helpful and available, and I remember he revised my application, I don’t know, two or three times? I couldn’t have done it without him.”

The grant supports the next phase of Zhu’s experiment: recruiting participants and running sessions. Zhu has already begun sessions at the School of Business, where participants work through business decision-making scenarios and are compensated based on their choices. About 150 people have participated, he said.

He is continuing data collection before turning to analysis, defending his dissertation in July and preparing for the move. Zhu, who grew up in Shanghai, said even Richmond felt small when he first arrived. Kansas will be another adjustment.

“It’s just very new for me,” he said. “But I think I can handle it, as long as I have a job and I focus on my research.”