Indiana State University Newsroom

Networks Financial Institute (NFI) at Indiana State University has awarded two professors in the university's Scott College of Business $30,000 each for their research projects.

NFI awarded the grants to Lakshmi Balasubramanyan, assistant professor of finance, and Aruna Chandra, professor of management at ISU. Both professors are working on separate projects currently underway, said John Tatom, director of research for NFI, an outreach of the Scott College. The projects were chosen among five submissions.

"These projects were the most developed, had the most promise of publishable results and were judged to contribute significantly to their respective fields," Tatom said.

Balasubramanyan is working with Kevin T. Jacques, the Boyndon D. Murch Chair in Finance at Baldwin-Wallace College. They expect to publish two manuscripts that will analyze the design of regulatory capital standards and the existence of regulatory capital arbitrage.

Chandra will work with Biswajit Banerjee, visiting professor of economics and finance at Haverford College and lecturer at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Their study addresses how microfinance organizations are operated and regulated in the U.S., and will analyze if regulation impacts the governing and ownership of groups in the microfinance business.

The NFI Seed Grants were awarded for the first time earlier this academic year. NFI officials hope the institution will award two seed grants per year.

"Due to the size of these grants, faculty are able to devote more concentrated attention to these research projects than their normal routines might typically allow," Tatom said.

While the current projects may continue beyond the grant period, the grants run through June 2011.

Contact: John Tatom, director of research, Networks Financial Institute, Indiana State University, 317-536-0281, ext. 712, or john.tatom@indstate.edu.

Writer: Austin Arceo, assistant director of media relations, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3790 or austin.arceo-negrich@indstate.edu.