What brought you to CTG UAlbany?

My passion for researching how technology can improve public service delivery. CTG is the best place for me to strengthen my research taste, learn practical methods and gain firsthand insights from frontline workers. Growing up in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, one of China's most underdeveloped and ethnically diverse regions, and later living in Zhejiang Province, which is known for its efficient and citizen-centered digital public services, I saw firsthand how much technology can matter at the local government level. That lived contrast is what drives my research along the way. 

What did you do prior to coming to CTG UAlbany?

I spent my first year as a PhD student at Arizona State University, working as a research assistant at the Center for Urban Innovation. Before moving to the United States, I was an MPhil student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), where I first realized that my passion and the frustrations I carried as a young person could actually fuel my research. That experience also sharpened my awareness of how unevenly technology is adopted across communities, and how important it is to approach that unevenness with an equity lens. Before that, I studied international politics at Zhejiang University.

What are your plans and goals for the future?

I want to keep doing research centered on technology in public service. I am not attached to a particular type of institution or country because I genuinely believe this is a universally important question and one that is only becoming more urgent. 

How can CTG UAlbany help you reach your goals?

Being surrounded by brilliant researchers working in the same space will push me to grow. Beyond the intellectual community, CTG's deep connections with the public sector provide me with the ideal environment to translate my research into real community impact. Also, CTG is a warm and inclusive place and that matters when you are trying to do your best work.