Equitable Opportunity Lab
The Equitable Opportunity (EO) Lab at Michigan Ross supports scholarship on diversity, equity and inclusion with an emphasis on scholarship that features notions of fairness and justice in business contexts.
Why “Equitable Opportunity?”
- “Equitable” indicates circumstances in which no socioeconomic disparities result from “differential treatment” (i.e., unequal treatment yields different outcomes) or “disparate impact” (i.e., equivalent treatment yields different outcomes).
- “Opportunity” highlights possibilities in business to obtain a job, launch a business, secure financing, etc. that vary across people, time, and place.
- “Equitable Opportunity” focuses us on understanding and addressing situations where differential treatment or disparate impact presents uneven business opportunities.
Get Involved
If you would like to affiliate with the EO Lab or fund our work, please contact us at RossEOLab@umich.edu
We are currently raising funds to support various initiatives, including the following:
Research grants for multi-disciplinary teams of faculty and students
Scholarships for graduate students of the Ross School and the University of Michigan
An equity-centered conference planned for Fall 2023
Dissertation enhancement grants to support doctoral student research
Fellowships for junior faculty from the Ross School and the University of Michigan
Who We Are, What We Do
The EO Lab is structured as a broad coalition of faculty, students, and staff (i.e., affiliates) from Michigan Ross and the greater University of Michigan community. Supported by the Ross Office of DEI, the EO Lab welcomes partnerships with the various Centers and Institutes of Michigan Ross and U-M.
EO Lab affiliates consider who works where, how people work, what is earned from work, and how access to employment and entrepreneurship aligns with prevailing notions of fairness and justice. For example, EO Lab affiliates study how social identity (e.g., race, gender, immigrant status) conditions entrepreneurial opportunities, competitive positioning, and business performance.
We use equity analytics to measure gaps among people and firms, diagnose their root causes, and design interventions to close those gaps. We develop custom teaching cases that prepare students to conduct equity audits. And we collaborate with organizations interested in addressing disparities in their workforces, supply chains, and other business practices.
Current Scholars and Fellows
Our Scholars and Fellows are supported through funds from the Ross Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office and the Ross Deans Office.
A critical mass of Ross faculty and doctoral students across all academic areas of business (e.g., finance, management, marketing, operations, strategy) are currently conducting research focused on equitable opportunities and, more specifically, racial disparities in business. By structuring intellectual engagement among researchers who may otherwise focus narrowly on the theories and methods of their respective fields, our Scholars and Fellows are part of a created intellectual community that is greater than the sum of its parts.
The EO Lab is comprised of Ross Scholars (i.e., faculty), Fellows (i.e., graduate students), and other affiliated members (non-funded faculty, non-funded students, and staff) to develop an engaged community around equity centered research. Each year the Lab will fund proposed projects and engage in intellectual conversation that promotes impact of equity centered research in the communities we serve.