Vicky Chuqiao Yang

Vicky Chuqiao Yang is the Richard S. Leghorn (1939) Career Development Assistant Professor of Management of Technological Innovation and an Assistant Professor of System Dynamics at MIT Sloan School of Management. She holds an affiliation with the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society. Her research employs quantitative behavioral models and data analysis to study collective human behavior across scales, from teams to cities. Key focus areas include political polarization, urban scaling laws, bureaucracy in organizations, and decision-making dynamics.

Yang earned her PhD in Applied Mathematics from Northwestern University and was an Omidyar Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute. Her work bridges disciplines such as sociology, economics, and complex systems theory. Notable projects include an interactive visualization of U.S. Congress ideology and mathematical models explaining urban income inequality patterns.

Her scientific contributions have been featured in outlets like Nautilus, PNAS, Wall Street Journal, and SIAM News. Awards include the Omidyar Fellowship (Santa Fe Institute), recognizing her innovative interdisciplinary research.

Yang’s research portfolio reflects a commitment to understanding how organizational structures and collective behaviors shape societal outcomes, with applications to policy design, urban planning, and global risk mitigation.