Wanyi Dai Li 戴李婉嫕

Intro

I am a PhD candidate at Stanford University Management Science and Engineering Department. I study operations management and am co-advised by Itai Ashlagi and Irene Lo.

I am currently based in Cambridge, MA.

Research Summary

My research theme is market design for environmental conservation. My current work is to design contracts for natural capital, or the so-called "Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES)". Given that natural capital differs from conventional production goods, I consider how to balance the dynamics of conservation and consumption.

Academic Honors

• Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship [2018 - 2020]
• Stanford School of Engineering Graduate Fellowship [2016 - 2018]
• Phyllis Fleming Prize for Excellence in Physics, Wellesley College [2016]
• Phi Beta Kappa Society, Wellesley College [2016]
• Sigma Xi Society, Wellesley College [2016]
• United World College Davis Scholar, Wellesley College [2012 - 2016]

Experiences

• Research Intern at Microsoft Research New England Lab, Cambridge, MA [2020 Spring]

  I was mentored by Nicole Immorlica and Brendan Lucier in the Economics and Computer Science (EconCS) group. My internship was funded by Micrsoft AI for Earth. We collaborate with ICRAF to do fieldwork in Uganda to improve and validate our theory work on the afforestation incentive program. We conduct surveys and set up an one-year-long pilot program of conditoinal cash transfer to smallholding farmers in the Mokono and Mt. Elgone regions in Uganda.

• Research Fellow at the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), Kampala, Uganda [2019 Fall]

  I worked with the Trees-on-Farms for Biodiversity team in Uganda.

• Research Intern at Microsoft Research New England Lab, Cambridge, MA [2019 Summer]

  I was mentored by Nicole Immorlica and Brendan Lucier in the Economics and Computer Science (EconCS) group. We built a theoretical model to design long-term payment programs to incentivize tree-growing for farmers.

Leadership

• Co-organizer of the Environment Working Group at MD4SG [2020]
• Member of School of Engineering Dean’s Graduate Student Advisory Council (ASSU) [2019 - 2020]
• Director of Academic Diversity (Excutive Cabinet member) of the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) [2018 - 2019]

  I created the "Demystifying Grad School" panel series with the Undergraduate Advising and Research office (UAR), which discusses practical matters related to starting graduate school and pursuing academia with the underrepresented undergraduate community.

  I initiated an effort in the graduate engineering community similar to "What I Wish My Professor Knew" project created by the Stanford First Generation and Low Income Partnership (FLIP), in the hope to create more effective communication channels between underrepresented students and faculty.

• Kiln Manager at the Stanford Ceramics Club [2018 Summer, 2019 - 2020]

  I managed the kiln group, a group of 20 people, to load kilns and schedule kiln firings.

Teaching

I was a course assistant for

• MS&E 220 Probability Analysis (master level course) [Summer of 2017, 2018]
• OIT 262 Operations (MBA course at Stanford Graduate School of Business) [Spring of 2017, 2018]

Talks

• Simple and Optimal Contract Design for Payment for Ecosysterm Services @ INFORMS Annual Meeting, Seattle WA [October 2019]
• Impact of Travel Delays in Queues @ INFORMS Annual Meeting, Pheonix, AZ [November 2018]

Publication

• Little bits of diamond: Optically detected magnetic resonance of nitrogen-vacancy centers. American Journal of Physics. Zhang, H., Belvin, C., Li, W., Wang, J., Wainwright, J., Berg, R., Bridger, J. 2018; 86 (3)

About me

• Since 2016: Stanford University @ CA

  I am a member of the Stanford Ceramic Club where I make pottery and fire the kiln.

• 2012 - 2016: Wellesley College @ MA

  I graduated magna cum laude with a major in Physics and a minor in Computer Science. I was a flautist in the Chamber Music Socity and the treasurer of the Amnesty International Wellesley College chapter.

• 2010 - 2012: United World College (UWC) Mahindra College @ Pune, India
• 2008 - 2010: Suzhou High School @ Suzhou, China
• Prior to 2008: Hometown @ Xuzhou (徐州), China

To see a list of places on earth I have been, check out here! (Last updated in 2018)

Contact me

You can email me at "first name" + "last name" AT stanford DOT edu.

Here is my Stanford profile.