AI Project Team

Nisa Gürbüz is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Public Policy and Management Department at the USC Price School of Public Policy. Before her doctoral studies, she earned her master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as a Fulbright Scholar. Her research explores the dynamic relationship between technology adoption and organizational change, particularly focusing on how private and public sector organizations differ in this context.

Yi Ming is a second-year Master’s Student majoring in Data Science at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering. His research interest is integrating public management and data science, leveraging computational tools (big data/ machine learning) to both validate established public management theories and forge novel theoretical perspectives. Currently, he is delving into the intricate dynamics of political and financial influences on employee turnover within multi-level federal agencies with new data and methodologies. Before joining USC, Yi completed his Master’s in Business Analytics at Boston University. 

Christopher Apton is a first-year Master’s student in the Applied Data Science program in Viterbi’s School of Engineering. He graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Data theory along with a minor in Bioinformatics. He enjoys tackling problems related to data science, with experience lying in data analytics, machine learning, and software development. During his free time, he enjoys rock climbing and hiking.

Mandy Chen is a master’s student in the applied data science program at the University of Southern California. She had earned a bachelor’s degree in both film production and mathematics economics at the University of California, Riverside. Mandy cultivated a keen interest in exploring data when completing her secondary major during undergrad studies. She is always ready and excited to overcome challenges with a solid foundation of her knowledge.

Kelly Chung is a first-year Master’s student in the Applied Data Science program at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering.  She has cultivated a strong and diverse background in analytics and computing, having earned her Mathematics/Economics B.S. and Political Science B.A. at UCLA. Her research interests include integrating machine learning techniques to uncover patterns and make predictions in consumer and social network spaces. Kelly’s passion lies in harnessing the power of data to derive meaningful insights that drive innovation and solve complex challenges. 

Jize Luo is a first-year Master’s student in the Applied Data Science program at USC. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a double major in statistics and economics. His professional expertise lies in Data Analysis and NLP. His analytical experience encompasses product analysis and customer segmentation, which has led to cost-effective strategies and optimized user engagement. Jize is adept at transforming massive datasets into actionable insights by leveraging data mining techniques. He also had experience with efficient tuning for LLMs. During his free time, he enjoys badminton and stand-up comedy. 

Linda Peng (Yunlin Peng) is a first-year Master’s student in the Applied Data Science program at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering. She graduated with a first-class data science honours degree at the University of Sydney and majored in data science and business analytics. She is interested in natural language processing and time series data analysis, especially in leveraging natural language processing techniques to solve time series problems. 

Leyi Sun is a master's student specializing in Communication Data Science at the Viterbi School of Engineering and the Annenberg School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Southern California. Leyi's research interests lie in the realm of data mining within social media platforms and social networks. She has been particularly dedicated to leveraging natural language processing techniques in social science studies and data-driven journalism.

Andy Xia is a fourth-year Undergraduate student double-majoring in Economics and Data Science with a minor in Entrepreneurship. Andy has a keen enthusiasm for managing and analyzing raw data and fine-tuning predictive models. His interests lie in the realm of financial analytics, where he dedicates his skills to forecasting the dynamics of stock and cryptocurrency markets. By leveraging historical data alongside market indices and sentiment analysis, Andy aims to uncover actionable insights and trends. During his free time, he plays basketball non-stop.

Rui Xue is a second-year master's student in the Applied Data Science program at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering. He earned his bachelor's degree with a major in Information Science and a double major in Economics at Peking University. His experience in information technology and knowledge of social science enables him to solve problems in different fields.