Yao Li

PhD Candidate, Operations Management, Northwestern University

I am on the 2025–2026 academic job market.

I am a final year PhD Candidate in Operations Management at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, advised by Professor Jan A. Van Mieghem, with Professor Itai Gurvich, Professor Robert Bray, and Professor Lauren Xiaoyuan Lu on my thesis committee.

My research is driven by real-life problems and examines how the design of technology-enabled service systems affects efficiency, competition, and access. My current agenda develops along three interrelated areas: platform operations, human-AI interaction and data-driven decision making. Across these contexts, I examine how design choices affect both system performance and participant behavior. Methodologically, I draw on game theoretic modeling, stochastic modeling, causal inference, and field experiments to generate insights that are both analytically rigorous and practice-relevant.

Research Interests: Platform Operations, Human-AI interactions, Data-Driven decision making.

Research Methodologies: Game-theoretic modeling, stochastic modeling, causal inference, field experiments.

Contact: yao.li [at] kellogg.northwestern.edu

Selected Papers