Denise Loyd

Denise Lewin Loyd is the Sloan School Career Development Professor and Associate Professor of Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management. 

Loyd studies the impact of diversity in groups. Specifically, she examines the way group composition affects the cognition, feelings, and behavior of individuals. She is particularly interested in how one’s numerical representation and social status in a group interact to affect outcomes such as judgment, influence, and information sharing. Her work explores the relationship between members of the minority and majority as well as relationships within these sub-groups. A recent project examines the joint impact of status and distinctiveness—or being in the numerical minority—in evaluative groups on an individual’s judgment of a similar person. Another project looks at the experience of being one of only two members of a category within a group in contrast to being the only one. 

Loyd’s work appears in publications such as Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes and the Academy of Management Learning and Education Journal. Her research has been recognized with awards from the International Association for Conflict Management, the Academy of Management, and the State Farm Foundation. 

Loyd holds a BS in civil engineering and architectural engineering from the University of Miami, an MS in civil and environmental engineering from MIT, and a PhD in management and organizations from Northwestern University.