I’m currently an associate professor in the Information Systems, Business Statistics, and Operations Management department at HKUST. I earned my Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. My research interests lie in the future of labor markets, FinTech, health IT, and statistical learning. My work has been published in journals such as MIS Quarterly, ISR, and POM, and has also been highlighted by Bloomberg Businessweek and CNBC Professional. I’ve had the opportunity to present my research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Department of Treasury. Additionally, I have contributed methodological work to leading journals in machine learning and statistics, including Biometrika and JMLR. For the trivia lovers out there, I’ve somehow ended up with an Erdős number of 3.
I also teach classes in Blockchain, FinTech and cryptoventures for MBA, MSc and BBA students at HKUST.
If you’re an undergrad or grad student at HKUST, I’m also hiring for part-time/full-time RA work. For external applicants, we are also open to full-time Pre-Doctoral research fellows applications. Shoot me an email if you’re interested!
My research interests include:
- Digital Technologies and Social Justice
- FinTech
- Blockchain, DeFi and Web 3.0
- Algo-trading
- Smart Healthcare
- Causal inference
- Quantile regression and empirical bayes methodology
- Graphical models
Published/Accepted Papers
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Sijia Zhou, Yanzhen Chen and Xin Li. The Impact of Non-Diagnostic Digital Services on Online Healthcare Consultation. forthcoming at Journal of Management Information Systems, 42.3 (2025).
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Yanzhen Chen, Huaxia Rui, Andrew Whinston. Conversation Analytics: Can Machines Read between the Lines in Real-Time Strategic Conversations?. Information Systems Research, 36.1 (2024). Media Coverage by Medium
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Arun Rai, Yanzhen Chen and Yatang Lin. Exclusion for Public Safety or Inclusion for Gig Employment: Managing the Tension with a Trilogy of Guardians, MIS Quarterly 48.8 (2024). Code.
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Sunil Mithas, Yanzhen Chen, Chewei Liu, Kunsoo Han. Are foreign and domestic information technology professionals complements or substitutes?, MIS Quarterly 46.4 (2022).
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Sunil Mithas, Yanzhen Chen, Yatang Lin, Alysson Oliveira. On Causality and Plausibility of Treatment Effects in Operations Management Research, Production and Operations Management 31.12 (2022).
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Yanzhen Chen, Huaxia Rui, Andrew Whinston. Tweet To the Top? Social Media Personal Branding and Career Outcomes. MIS Quarterly, 45.2 (2021).A Non-Technical Video, Media Coverage by Bloomberg, Media Coverage by AAAS, Media Coverage by South China Morning Post, Another Media Coverage by SCMP and Media Coverage in Chinese (香港经济日报)
- Allen Kei, Jialiang Li, Hangjian Li, Yanzhen Chen, O.H.M Padilla. Change Point Detection in Dynamic Graphs with Decoder-only Latent Space Model. Forthcoming at Transactions on Machine Learning Research.
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Allen Kei, Hangjian Li, Yanzhen Chen, and O.H.M Padilla. Change Point Detection on A Separable Model for Dynamic Networks. Forthcoming at Transactions on Machine Learning Research.
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Siwei Ye, Yanzhen Chen, and O.H.M Padilla. 2D Score-Based Estimation of Heterogeneous Treatment Effects.” Journal of Causal Inference 11. 1 (2023).
Code.
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O.H.M Padilla, Wesley Tansey, Yanzhen Chen. Quantile regression with ReLU Networks: Estimators and minimax rates. Journal of Machine Learning Research 23.247 (2022): 1-42. PDF. Code.
- O.H.M Padilla, James Sharpnack, Yanzhen Chen, Daniela Witten. Adaptive Non-Parametric Regression With the K-NN Fused Lasso. Biometrika, 107.2 (2020). PDF. Code.
Working Papers
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Yanzhen Chen and Sunil Mithas. Do Affirmative Action Policies Reduce the Female Wage Gap for Information Technology Professionals? Evidence from India
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Yanzhen Chen, Che-Wei Liu and Ming-Hui Wen. Alert for Alerts: How Investment Price Tracking Alerts Affect Retail Investors. Media Coverage by CNBC Pro, Media Coverage by wealthmanagement.com SSRN’s Top Ten download list for: ERN: Market Structure (Topic) as of Jul 2023
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Sunil Mithas, Yanzhen Chen, Che-Wei Liu, and Michael Kimbrough. How Information Technology Investments Influence Quality of Management Forecasts: Evidence from the United States
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O.H.M Padilla, Yanzhen Chen, Gabriel Ruiz. A Causal Fused Lasso for Interpretable Heterogeneous Treatment Effects Estimation
Grants:
PI
- Early Career Scheme (HK $553,000), Speak without Speaking: Stock Prices and the FOMC Press Conferences, Hong Kong Research Grants Council, 2019-2022
- IEMS Research Grants (HK $168,000), Social Impacts of Sharing Economy, Co-PI with Yatang Lin, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, 2018-2020
- An Interactive Web-Based playground for Instant Trials and Analytics in Blockchain-related Courses (HK$300,000), Teaching and Learning Innovation Projects, 2025-2026
- University Initial Grant (HK $100,000), HKUST, 2017
- Education and Generative Artificial Intelligence (EDGE-AI), Intelligent Entrepreneurs: The Trilogy of Teaching, Learning, and AI-Driven Journey to Business Mastery (HK $95,000), HKUST, 2023
Co-I
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Theme-based Research Scheme (HK$20,659,000), Contributing to the Development of Hong Kong into a Global Fintech Hub, Hong Kong Research Grants Council, 2018-2022
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The Hidden Dynamics:Collusion Between Sell-Side Analysts and Fund Managers, National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 72472171) (卖方分析师与基金经理利益互换的实现机制与经济后果)
Services and Roles:
Teaching
- Course Developer for ISOM 3350 (Fintech and Cryptovetures) and Co-Developer for ACCT 5801 (Blockchain Technology)
- Course Coordinator for ISOM 2010 (Intro to IS)
- Faculty Advisor for ISOM 6380 (Information Systems Practicum, collaboration with industry)
- Franklin Prize for Teaching Excellence Finalist in 2023
- Dean’s Recognition of Excellent Teaching for ISOM 3350 in 2021
- Dean’s Recognition of Excellent Teaching for ACCT 5801, 2020 - 2023
Professional Services
- Associate Editor, Business & Information Systems Engineering
- Associate Editor, Information & Management, Special Issue on Transformative AI in Online Markets: Development, Impact and the Road Ahead
- Associate Editor, ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems, Special Issue on IT-enabled Business Management and Decision Making in (Post) Covid-19 Era
- Best Associate Editor, 2022 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Blockchain Track
- Associate Editor, International Conference on Smart Finance (ICSF), 2022, 2025
- Associate Editor, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Blockchain, DLT, and Fintech Track, 2020
- Associate editor, PACIS 2023, Economics of IS Track
- WISE discussant, 2021
- Program Committee, Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST) 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2025
- Program Committee, Workshop on Information Technology and Systems (WITS) 2019
- Reviewer, Journal of Machine Learning Research JMLR, Annals of Statistics AOS, Biometrika
- Reviewer, Management Science, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research
- Reviewer, Production and Operations Management, POM
Internal Services
- Executive Committee Member, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, 2018-2020
- ISOM Department Search and Appointments Committee, 2019-2021
- ISOM Department Search Interviews, 2017- 2021
- Mphil Advisor for Lucy Zhao and Lihang Cui
- HKUST Mainland Undergraduate Admission Interview in Beijing, 2018, 2020
- Sample Class Instructor for HKUST Business Summer Camp, 2018
- MSc Program Committee 2022-2023
- Contributed to two issues of HKUST Business School Magazine Biz@HKUST
- MScISM Corporate Projects with Cyberport Start-ups for 2023 Spring, collaborating with Super Cat Technology Limited
- Presented at BizInsight@HKUST, to MBA alumni and the industry, on how the development of the Internet and social media has affected the online labor market
