Zhen Lian

Zhen Lian

Ph.D. Candidate

Cornell University/Cornell Tech

zl458 at cornell.edu

About me

I am a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell in SC Johnson Graduate School of Management, where I am very fortunate to work with Garrett van Ryzin and Li Chen. Before joining Cornell, I obtained my bachelor’s degree at Peking University in Beijing, China.

I am broadly interested in the economic decisions and welfare impacts in modern marketplaces, such as ride-hailing and the broader gig economy markets. Taking a combined view of operations and economics, my Ph.D. thesis studies marketplaces at two levels:

  • At the industry level, I investigate the strategic interactions among companies and their implications on the market structure.
  • At the firm level, I analyze individual firms’ operational decisions such as price and wage setting.

I strive to generate real-world impact through my research. In summer 2020, I worked as a data science intern at Lyft Marketplace Labs on understanding drivers’ participation patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since November 2020, as part of a research team of three, I have been deeply involved in designing new school schedules at San Francisco Unified School District.

See here for more information about my research.

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