I am a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University's Management Science and Engineering Department, specifically in the Work, Technology, and Organization program.

My dissertation is at the intersection of science and engineering, organization studies, and the law. I am studying the construction of patents. I define construction as creation and engagement. My research fills an important gap in academic scholarship. While legal scholars have expanded on IP law and social scientists have conducted numerous studies using data from issued patents, few have studied the creation of patents as legal documents and few have conducted grounded studies on how and why organizations create patents. 

The unit of analysis in my dissertation is the patent. I study the interorganizational process by which individuals and groups create property resources. I employ a mixed method inductive research design using the following types of data from three sources:  semi-structured interviews, informal discussions, observations, and archival data.  

Research findings are not confined to patenting as a phenomenon but also offer numerous theoretical contributions such as resource creation, decision-making, and social construction. By revealing how individuals and organizations are embedded in the economic as well as the legal environment, this dissertation draws attention to the need for more research at the intersection of organization and legal studies. Moreover, because there are few studies on how patents are created, policy makers may find this study fundamental in designing policy.

My research interests include: 
  • research methodology. social construction of information, sequences (timing and order); 
  • organizational behavior in the legal environment, telecommuting, myths/fads, alignment and misalignment in meaning;
  • the work of managing non-profits, decision-making in resource creation, and IP licensing.

I have an M.B.A. with High Distinction from University of Michigan Business School and a B.A. with Highest Honors in chemistry from Oberlin College.

I have worked for two non-profits as an art conservation scientist and a science educator and an academic institution as a technology licensing associate. I have lived and taught in Japan. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel extensively in remote and urban areas in Asia.  

Contact: Dana Wang, dxwang [at] stanford.edu.