HBS faculty comprises more than 300 scholars and practitioners who bring leading-edge research, extensive experience, and deep insights into the classroom, to organizations, and to leaders across the globe. We asked new faculty at HBS about their background, their new roles, and their interests.
Jacqueline (Jackie) Ng Lane, assistant professor, Technology and Operations Management
What is your educational background?
I did my undergraduate studies at Princeton University in operations research and financial engineering. I then went to work in finance with Morgan Stanley in New York City where I also got an MBA from Columbia University. After my MBA, I decided to change companies and roles and worked for Microsoft as a retail and advertising finance manager. After a couple of years, I went back to pursue my PhD at Northwestern University followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH), where I looked at how diverse teams in science, medicine, and knowledge-work can make use of their resources and informational advantages to achieve innovation breakthroughs, greater creativity, and performance..
What’s your area of research and what led you to it?
I investigate how firms and scientific institutions can leverage diversity in perspectives and open innovation principles to generate, evaluate, and select novel and high-impact projects and ideas. I often partner with organizations to run field experiments to improve their evaluation processes. Since I was young, I’ve been interested in the natural sciences. During undergrad, I spent a summer working in a stem cell lab running experiments on how to grow and nurture stem cells in different environments. The process of systematically testing different scenarios left an impression on me and has influenced my research interests in studying the innovation process using an experimental approach.
What will you be teaching?
I will be teaching the Technology and Operations Management (TOM) course in the RC curriculum.
What would you be doing if you weren’t an academic?
I love the intellectual freedom we have as academics to pursue our interests and passions. But if I weren’t an academic, I might still be working at a tech company, where I would like to still be a part of the innovation process but from a different perspective.
Where are you from?
I am from Vancouver, British Columbia.
What is something you like to do outside of your academic work?
I like to ski, travel, play racquet sports (e.g., tennis, squash), and spend time with my family.
What’s your favorite book, movie, or piece of art?
It is tough to choose just one, but I really enjoy reading biographies. I am currently reading Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson and it has been very inspiring both personally and for my research.
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