Student Profile: Yunsong Yu, MACRM Class of 2023

A graduate from Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China, Yunsong Yu, MACRM Class of 2023, said she is proud to be the first graduate from the finance department at SUSTech admitted to UChicago. “I was very excited to connect the skills I gained from SUSTech to the MACRM program."

Yu, who earned her bachelor's in economics with a focus on financial engineering, said many of her courses were industry-oriented: "I learned a great deal about emerging finance and tech markets and gained experience in wealth management, venture capital, and consulting, and I was confident those practical skills would enhance my career goals of pursuing an academic and research-oriented track."

Yu also served as a youth delegate to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2019, where she recognized that some of the solutions to fighting climate change are complex and require international cooperation and aligned public policies. "My experience as a delegate exposed me to economic research on allocating resources to decrease carbon emissions, which sparked my appreciation for research work."

The Master of Arts in Public Policy with Certificate in Research Methods (MACRM) program at UChicago Harris, Yu said, was her dream program. "MACRM combines policy with my interest in research, and the curriculum and apprenticeship design helped me further lay the foundation for my PhD application."

In addition to her coursework at Harris, Yu works as a full-time research assistant on venture capital and private equity in emerging markets at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. “I've had a lot of great opportunities in my research assistant role," she said. "Whether it's doing surveys for investors interested in early-stage companies in emerging economies or performing data analysis to obtain regression results about the impact of investments in African markets using econometric techniques, I find ways to integrate more diversified data and gain a richer exposure to econometrics, business, and finance."

As her MACRM experience draws to a close, Yu said she will continue focusing on her research assistant position at Booth and completing her apprenticeship on inequality with Professor Steven Durlauf. "My MACRM and UChicago experience has equipped me with the skills and tools which I plan to further pursue in my doctoral studies.”

After graduating, Yu will be applying her interests in economic development and policy as a UN volunteer in collaboration with SUSTech and the United Nations Development Programme. “I will be traveling to Peru for six months to learn about the Latin American markets and assist with data management and future research."

In the future, Yu seeks to make an impact on society to increase equality and fairness. “I aim to be a practitioner in the policy sphere by focusing on business, economics, and finance. Doing so while serving as a faculty member at a university—and inspiring young students—would be incredibly rewarding.