I am a PhD student in the Decision, Risk, and Operations (DRO) division at Columbia Business School. My research explores the intersection of economics and computer science, focusing on developing robust mathematical models to illuminate complex phenomena and designing innovative algorithms to facilitate informed decision-making. Currently, I am working with Hongyao Ma on pricing problems in ride-sharing markets.

I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (Yao Class) at Tsinghua University. During my undergraduate studies, I spent a summer at the University of Michigan, where I worked with Grant Schoenebeck on mechanism design; I also spent six months at Caltech, collaborating with Adam Wierman on online optimization research.

My name in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): YU [y˧˥] Chen [tʂʰən˧˥] Kai [kʰaɪ˨˩˧]. “Yu” sounds like the French “u”.