Maria Hatalis is currently a PhD Candidate at the Rutgers Business School, with a concentration in Economics. In particular, her research interests include fields in applied economics such as international economics, development economics, and business economics. Her research focuses on cross-border acquisitions and its effect on a firm’s financial performance, corporate value, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings. Prior to this, she was working as a Credit Risk Analyst at Morgan Stanley in Manhattan for two and a half years. Maria also graduated from Lehigh University where she earned a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Economics.