About me

Hi, I’m a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Statistics & Data Science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). I am a member of the Lab for Statistics, Computing, Algorithms, Learning, and Economics (SCALE) , where I am advised by Prof. Xiaowu Dai.

Prior to my Ph.D., I earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Probability & Statistics and Management Science from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and a Master of Arts in Statistics from Columbia University, where I was advised by Prof. Michael E. Sobel.

My research lies at the intersection of Machine Learning, Causal Inference, and Economics. In particular,

(1) Market-driven mechanisms that enable intelligent decision-making and efficient resources allocation in AI markets, which coordinate the pricing, exchange, and utilization of data, ML models, and APIs (such as LLM services).

(2) Next-generation AI systems where autonomous agents learn and reason through causal and economic principles to achieve stable, adaptive, and intelligent collective behavior. Ensure efficient operations in environments shaped heavily by human behavior and strategic interactions.

My first name is pronounced as Yee-ung-Chee.

Research

My research explores the two-way interaction between AI and economic systems, studying how AI can enhance economic decision-making and how economic principles can guide the design of intelligent, adaptive AI systems.

Learning-Based Mechanisms for AI Economies As digital assets—such as data, privacy, APIs, and AI-generated content—gain economic significance, markets must learn to price, trade, and utilzie them smartly and efficiently. I design profit-aware, data-efficient, incentive-aligned mechanisms, such as
(1) AI-driven digital marketplaces that learn buyer values over time and attain optimal revenue faster, and
(2) Incentive-aligned privacy markets where users, instead of being forced to surrender their privacy, can decide to whom and to what extent to share their data in exchange for economic rewards.

AI Systems with Economic and Statistical Reasoning I study how AI systems can integrate causal and economic reasoning to make interpretable, uncertainty-aware decisions, including (1) Prediction-powered uncertainty quantification that leverages foundation models to construct prediction intervals using inexpensive model-generated data, reducing reliance on costly real-world observations, and
(2) Retrieval-augmented LLMs that not only retrieve relevant information but also reveal how responses are generated, identify which resources to rely on, and rank results by their reliability.
By embedding statistical inference within adaptive learning, my work enables AI systems that quantify uncertainty and act strategically under limited or evolving information.

Economic Alignment in Generative and Agentic AI I explore how large language models (LLMs) and agentic AI systems can interact through economic incentives to align behavior and value creation. Building on insights from auction and market design, I investigate mechanisms that link bids, rewards, and generated outcomes—ensuring that AI-generated content or actions reflect proportional economic value. This economic interpretation strengthens fairness, trust, and transparency in AI-driven environments such as recommendation and advertising systems.

Ultimately, I aim to build economically intelligent, inference-driven AI systems that not only learn from data but also reason, adapt, and coordinate through incentives. By integrating causal inference for uncertainty quantification and mechanism design principles for incentive alignment, my research bridges machine learning and economics to create scalable, value-aligned AI ecosystems.

Teaching

Courses TA'd

📍 UCLA
• STATS 102B
Introduction to Computation and Optimization for Statistics
• STATS 102A
Introduction to Computational Statistics with R
• STATS 100A
Introduction to Probability
• STATS 20
Introduction to Statistical Programming with R
• STATS 13
Introduction to Statistical Methods for Life and Health Sciences
• STATS 10
Introduction to Statistical Reasoning

📍 Columbia University
• STAT S1201
Calculus-Based Introduction to Statistics

What Students Say

“Yingqi has been the best TA I have had at UCLA. She is a talented and knowledgeable professional who made the class manageable and always checked in with students. Her discussions were on-point, and she was willing to meet with students after class to address difficulties. You can truly see when someone cares about their profession—Yingqi embodies that and so much more.”

“Ms. Gao is an excellent TA, and I greatly appreciate her. Without her, I would have struggled with the class and missed out on valuable training in statistical methods for real-world problems. Before the class, I was terrified of analyzing large datasets—now, I feel competent and inspired. I’m even considering a minor in statistics because of her. She deserves every raise available to TAs.”

“Yingqi is a fantastic programming and statistics TA. She was always considerate, providing extra resources, recordings, and after-class support. Her ability to simplify complex concepts made a huge difference. I would have struggled with the programming component of this class without her.”

Courses

Here is a selected list of graduate-level classes I have completed that are relevant to my research:

Statistics @UCLA

• STATS 200A
Applied Probability with Prof. Yingnian Wu
• STATS 200B
Theoretical Statistics with Prof. Arash Ali Amini
• STATS 201A
Research Design, Sampling, and Analysis with Prof. Hongquan Xu
• STATS 201B
Modeling and Learning with Prof. Chad Hazlett
• STATS 201C
Advanced Modeling and Learning with Prof. Qing Zhou
• STATS 202A
Statistics Programming with Prof. Frederic Paik Schoenberg
• STATS 202B
Matrix Algebra and Optimization with Prof. Mark S. Handcock
• STATS 256
Causality with Prof. Chad Hazlett
• STATS 211
Topics in Economics and Machine Learning with Prof. Xiaowu Dai
• STATS M231A
Pattern Recognition with Prof. Yingnian Wu

Computer Science or Electrical and Computer Engineering @UCLA

• CS 269
Reinforcement Learning with Prof. Bolei Zhou
• ECE 236A
Linear Programming with Prof. Christina P Fragouli