Alan Dennis (scientist)

Dr. Alan Dennis (born 1960) is an academic in Information Systems and currently holds the John T. Chambers Chair of Internet Systems at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. The John T. Chambers Chair was established in honor of John T. Chambers, former CEO of Cisco Systems and an Indiana University alumnus. Dennis has contributed significantly to the Information Systems (IS) community and is known for his research on team collaboration, the spread of fake news on social media, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. He has authored over 150 research papers, earning recognition as the third most published IS researcher in the last 30 years, and was ranked in the top 1% of the most influential researchers globally across all scientific disciplines in 2021.
==Early life and education==
Alan R. Dennis is of Scottish descent and holds the title of the 20th Baron of Cowie. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Acadia University in 1982. Following this, he pursued an MBA at Queen's University before completing his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Arizona in 1991. Dennis has been involved in the Information Systems field throughout his career, focusing on advancing both academic research and practical applications in technology.
==Career==
Alan R. Dennis is a Professor of Information Systems and holds the John T. Chambers Chair of Internet Systems at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. He has authored over 150 research papers, with many co-authored alongside his doctoral students, and chaired 16 dissertations. Dennis’s research focuses on four key areas: team collaboration, fake news on social media, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence.
Over his career, Dennis has received numerous accolades, including being named a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) in 2012 and receiving the AIS Award for Outstanding Contribution to IS Education in 2013. In 2021, a citation analysis ranked him among the top 1% of the most influential researchers globally across all scientific disciplines. His work has been recognized in both academic and popular media, with reports featured in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, The Atlantic, CBS, Fox Business Network, and PBS.
Dennis has authored four books—two on data communications and networking, and two on systems analysis and design. His contributions to the field also include serving as the Founding Publisher of MIS Quarterly Executive from 2000 to 2015, and leading the Association for Information Systems as its President during the COVID pandemic. He also served as Vice President for Conferences from 2015 to 2018.
In addition to his academic endeavors, Dennis has co-authored two research articles with his son, Alec.
Some of Dennis’s most influential work includes his studies on team collaboration and technology-mediated communication, notably in "Differences are Different: Examining the Effects of Communication Media on the Impacts of Racial and Gender Diversity in Decision-Making Teams" published in Information Systems Research. His research has also expanded to the area of fake news on social media, with key findings published in "Testing Media Richness Theory in the New Media: The Effects of Cues, Feedback, and Task Equivocality" in Information Systems Research.
In the field of cybersecurity, Dennis’s work on “Social Capital and Knowledge Integration in Digitally Enabled Teams” published in Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology illustrates his focus on secure, collaborative environments. His contributions in artificial intelligence research are detailed in studies on digital human characters and AI’s implications in information systems, as discussed in Communications of the ACM.
Category:1960 births
Category:Canadian people
Category:Information systems
Category:Indiana University alumni