Prof. Divakaran Liginlal is a Teaching Professor of Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. Lal holds a B.S. in Telecommunication Engineering from CET, an M.S. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Science, and a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona. Before joining CMU, Lal taught at three U.S. universities, including nine years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a recipient of the Mabel Chipman Award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching and the Lawrence J. Larson Grant Award for Innovation in Curriculum Design. In 2013, he received the best teacher award at CMU's Qatar campus. As a graduate student, he received the University of Arizona Foundation Award for Meritorious Teaching. Lal's research in information security, human-computer interaction, and decision support systems has been published in such journals as the Journal of MIS (JMIS), Communications of the ACM, IEEE-TKDE, IEEE-SMC, Applied Ergonomics, JGITM, the European Journal of Operational Research, Computers & Security, Decision Support Systems, Fuzzy Sets & Systems, IEEE Technology & Society, IJIM, and IRMJ. His teaching and research have been supported by organizations such as Microsoft Corporation, Hewlett Packard, Cisco Systems, Cargill, the Qatar Foundation, and the ICAIR at the University of Florida. Most recently, as the Lead PI of a major funded research project, he led a multidisciplinary team that investigated the use of metaphors in Arabic language websites. Currently he is a PI of another funded research project that is conducting a literacy intervention study aimed at improving the quality of student technical and professional communication at the university level. Prior to joining academics, Lal worked as a scientist developing test computers for the Indian Space Research Organization and as a software developer in Saudi Arabia

Lal's research in information systems is grounded in the intersection of technology, strategy, and human decision processes. The first topic area involves human computer interaction, particularly focused on eye-tracking studies. He was the lead PI of a major funded project to study language effectiveness in Arabic E-Commerce websites. Currently, he is investigating natural interaction paradigms in digital heritage artifacts. The second topic area relates to innovation, particularly in the area of information security and market value creation. His collaborative work identifies the important drivers of increased demand and innovation in information security and studies the relationship between innovation and economic performance, a subject that has been understudied in this context. The third topic area involves studying the interrelationships between human cognitive processes and privacy breaches, specifically the examination of technology use and organizational practices in the context of regulatory compliance. Lal's coauthored paper on scaffolding case analysis writing won the Journal of Information Systems Education best paper award for 2019