Posted on July 13, 2022 by Wendy Frost
H. R. Rao, the AT&T Distinguished Chair in Infrastructure Assurance and Security in the Carlos Alvarez College of Business at UTSA, was named a recipient of the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award.
He is spending this summer at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore in Bangalore, India, one of the top three management schools in the country. Rao is conducting research and teaching doctoral students this summer, and he will return next summer in 2023 to complete his term.
“This is a testament to the quality of our faculty. Working abroad, fellows serve as ambassadors for the institution while advancing their research and teaching. They also help publicize our global engagement and impact, while exemplifying the qualities that led to the recent R1 designation,” said Jaclyn Shaw, interim vice president for Research, Economic Development, and Knowledge Enterprise.
Bangalore is considered the Silicon Valley of India. Supported by the government, Rao’s research focuses on mobile payments–determining what makes people adopt mobile payment tech instead of using cash. With currency demonetization occurring a few years ago, combined with the scare of potential transmission of COVID, mobile payment adoption has accelerated, but not to the extent expected by India’s government.
Joining UTSA in 2016, Rao is a renowned researcher and scholar. He was named a fellow of the Association for Information Systems last March. His research interests broadly fall under the umbrella of information assurance and cover such topics as cyber security, digital resilience and disaster management.
Rao has authored or co-authored more than 250 technical papers, of which more than 180 are published in archival journals. His most recent research has focused on health-related misinformation and the adoption of mobile payment systems.
Prestigious and competitive, the Fulbright U.S. Scholar program, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, allows American faculty, as well as artists and professionals, the opportunity to teach, conduct research and lead related professional projects in over 130 countries.
— Wendy Frost
