Doctoral Student

Chonnikarn Fern Jira

Chonnikarn (Fern) Jira is a doctoral candidate in Technology and Operations Management. Fern's research interest lies at the intersection of operations management and corporate environmental strategy. Her topics of interest include climate change information sharing in the supply chain,  design of sustainability standards and their effects on supply chain members, and enabling greater adoption of energy-efficient projects within firms. 

Fern graduated from Stanford University in 2008 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (with distinction) and a secondary major in Mathematical and Computational Sciences. Fern is a native of Bangkok, Thailand. She enjoys playing the piano, photography, reading, and painting in her free time.

 
  1. Engaging supply chains in climate change and sustainability issues

    This research aims to develop a better understanding of the dynamics between supply chain partners in issues regarding climate change and sustainability.  I am particularly interested in better understanding factors that motivate suppliers to share climate change information with their buyers when the buyers request such information. I am also interested in studying the development of standards used to guage performance in sustainability of supply chain partners, and how the design of such standards affects behaviors of supply chain partners.
  2. Promoting greater organizational adoption of energy efficiency projects

    This research examines why firms fail to capitalize on apparently cost-effective investments in energy efficiency, with particular attention to waste heat recovery projects, in which heat from industrial processes are recovered in the form of thermal or electrical power. Agenda include developing a better understanding of how energy efficiency projects fit into the capital budgeting process of firms, and how organizational- and policy-level initiatives can help increase the adoption of such projects.