Faculty Directory
Yael Grushka-Cockayne
YG

Yael Grushka-Cockayne

Professor
+1 (434) 924-7141
Unit: Darden School of Business
Department: Darden Graduate School of Business
Office location and address
FOB 163
90 Darden Blvd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903
Education
B.Sc., Ben-Gurion University
MSc, London School of Economics
Ph.D., MRes, London Business School
Biography

Associate Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne's research and teaching activities focus on data science, forecasting, project management, and behavioral decision making. Her research is published in numerous academic and professional journals, and she is a regular speaker at international conferences in the area of decision analysis, project management and management science. She is also an award-winning teacher, winning the Darden Morton Leadership Faculty Award in 2011, the University of Virginia's Mead-Colley Award in 2012 and the Darden Outstanding Faculty Award and Faculty Diversity Award in 2013. In 2015 she won the University of Virginia All University Teaching award. Yael teaches the core Decision Analysis course, an elective she designed on Project Management, and an elective on Data Science. She is the leader of the open enrollment courses "Project Management for Executives" and "The Women's Leadership Program".

Before starting her academic career, she worked in San Francisco as a marketing director of an Israeli ERP company. As an expert in the areas of project management, she has served as a consultant to international firms in the aerospace and pharma industries. She is a UVA Excellence in Diversity fellow and a member of INFORMS, the Decision Analysis Society, the Operational Research Society and the Project Management Institute (PMI). She is an Associate Editor at Management Science and Operation Research and the Secretary/Treasurer of the INFORMS Decision Analysis Society.

In 2014, Yael was named one of "21 Thought-Leader Professors" in Data Science. Yael's recent "Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management" Coursera MOOC had over 100,000 enrolled, across 200 countries worldwide.

Recent sponsored awards as provided by ResearchUVA:
DA-APOC Business Process Reengineering Big Data Study
Source: UCL Consultants Limited
January 01, 2016 – November 30, 2016
Recent courses as listed in the Student Information System (SIS) Course Catalog:
DS 6999: Independent Study
Credits: 1–12
Graduate-level independent study conducted under the supervision of a specific instructor(s)
GBUS 7351: Decision Analysis
Credits: 2
Business decisions, both tactical and strategic, are frequently made difficult by the presence of uncertainty in the resulting consequences. This course presents a philosophy for framing, analyzing, and proactively managing decisions involving uncertainty, whether the uncertainty results from general conditions or the actions of competitors. The course will focus on making the uncertainty explicit so that it can be objectively analyzed. Prerequisites: Restricted to Darden students.
GBUS 7355: Decision Analysis - Part I
Credits: 2
Business decisions, both tactical and strategic, are frequently made difficult by the presence of uncertainty in the resulting consequences. This course presents a philosophy for framing, analyzing, and proactively managing decisions involving uncertainty, whether the uncertainty results from general conditions or the actions of competitors. The course will focus on making the uncertainty explicit so that it can be objectively analyzed.
GBUS 7901: Professional Advancement Course - Part I
Credits: 2
This course is designed to provide the skills and perspectives MBA for Executives students need to advance their careers. There are two components: a highly individualized coaching experience and a series of cohort-based experiences intended to develop leadership skills.
GBUS 8496: Data Science in Business
Credits: 3
New cases provide opportunities to learn how data science is affecting a variety of domains, from entrepreneurship and marketing to operations and finance. In this course, students will gain exposure to the concepts and tools used by managers to create disruptive business models that leverage big data.
GBUS 8500: Special Topics Seminar
Credits: 2–3
Each seminar is a course of study for students with special interests in business administration topics not currently included in the normal course offerings of the MBA Program. The seminar topics should be consistent with the objectives of the Second Year Program.
GBUS 8519: Entrepreneurship and Innovation-Israel
Credits: 2
During their time in Israel, students will visit local businesses and incubators and meet with government officials to develop a better understanding of the lessons that can be learned from the innovation revolution in Israel.
GBUS 8530: Global Immersion
Credits: 2
This Darden Worldwide Course aims to develop a deeper understanding of a particular global business environment, what it takes to successfully enter and understand new business contexts, and how to develop a mindset as a leader across different cultures and institutions. The course accomplishes this by immersing students on-site in a new context to study these issues through engagement with local executives, global and local companies and organizations, meeting with government and community leaders, exploring activities of cultural and historical significance, and meeting with peers.
GBUS 8621: Project Management
Credits: 2
The complete course in project management will include Monte Carlo simulation for project risk analysis within project planning, scoping, and network analysis. The critical path method will be employed. Topics of resource allocation, project monitoring, and real options thinking will be included.
GBUS 8999: Darden Independent Study
Credits: 2–3
A Darden Independent Study elective includes either case development or a research project to be conducted by an individual student under the direction of a faculty member. Students should secure the agreement of a resident faculty member to supervise their independent study and assign the final grade that is to be based to a significant degree on written evidence of the individual student's accomplishment.