Yuan Lai is Research Affiliate at the NYU Marron Institute and is a Assistant Professor/Special Research Fellow at Tsinghua University. His expertise lies at the intersection of urban information, applied data science, and urban systems. Yuan is interested in the future connection between computer science and urban planning to address socio-technical complexities of cities. His work has been featured at the United Nations Global Pulse, Bloomberg Technology, Data for Good Exchange, NYC Media Lab, American Planning Association, American Society of Civil Engineers, and Urban Design Forum. His work involves applied analytics and machine learning using large volume and variety of data related to urban environment, population health, social media, sensing network, and economic transactions. Yuan also practiced in architecture and urban design at Safdie Architects, where he worked on large scale mixed-use development projects worldwide. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with a concentration in urban systems and informatics from NYU, a M.S. in Applied Urban Science and Informatics from NYU CUSP, as well as a Master of Urban Planning and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture.