Gaia Rancati

Dr. Gaia Rancati is an assistant professor of marketing and neuromarketing at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN, USA and a visiting assistant professor at IULM University in Milan, Italy. Previously, she was an assistant professor at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, USA and a researcher at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA, USA. 

Her research focuses on applying neuromarketing in Human-Robot Interactions (HRI) in retail stores, online, and the metaverse. She possesses a deep passion for luxury fashion. Dr. Rancati is the author of the first paper on human-robot interaction measured through neuro-tools. 

In 2024, she led a panel about how to use biometrics in marketing research at the American Marketing Association. In 2022, she was a speaker at the World Neuromarketing Forum. Since 2019, Dr. Rancati has been a speaker at the World Retail Congress. In 2019, she was also awarded Woman of Excellence in Retail at the World Economic Forum. In 2022, she became a co-founder of Affectively Research, the first neuromarketing academic network in the US where she is responsible for the galvanic skin response.  

Before turning to academia, Dr. Rancati was a sales manager at Louis Vuitton and a retail manager at Max Mara. She was also a trainer for Hermes, Apple, and Ferrari. 

Selected Research and Professional Contributions 

Teaching 

Honors and Awards