Wanyi Dai Li 戴李婉嫕

Intro

I work on the Lightning Network at Lightspark.

I have a PhD in operations management from Stanford University Management Science and Engineering Department (co-advised by Itai Ashlagi and Irene Lo). I was trained in operations research and economics. My research focused on contract and incentive design for environmental sustainability. During my PhD, I advised NGOs on carbon credit programs with smallholder farmers in Africa and designed contracts for Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs.

Professional interest: market design; blockchain; natural capital & sustainability.

Here is my LinkedIn.

Industry, Public, Non-Profit Experience

• Head of Strategic Projects & Market Design at Lightspark [2023 - Present]
• Economics Lead at Chainlink Labs [2022 - 2023]
  • I designed and led the launch of Chainlink's staking program on Ethereum mainnet.
• Research Scientist (Novi Economics) at Meta [2021 - 2022]
  • I worked on cryptoeconomics research and drove strategies related to blockchain-based products including the Diem blockchain and stablecoin.
• Contractor at NCX [2021]
  • I built an optimization program to run the forest carbon credit auction for NCX's Natural Capital Exchange (NCAPX). NCX was previously known as SilviaTerra.
• Technical Editor for The Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiveristy [2020]
  • The Dasgupta Review is an independent, global review commissioned by the UK Treasury and led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta.
  • I edited the Review's 13 chapters of technical contents (economic theories), including the portfolio asset management problem of biodiversity and the economics of intergenerational well-being.
• Pro Bono Consultant for One Acre Fund [2020]
  • I advise on the design of One Acre Fund's agroforestry carbon credit program with smallholder farmers.
• AI for Earth & Econ-CS Research Intern at Microsoft Research New England Lab, Cambridge, MA [2020 & 2019]
  • I was mentored by Nicole Immorlica and Brendan Lucier in the Economics and Computer Science group. My internship was funded by Micrsoft AI for Earth. We collaborate with NGOs in East Africa to validate our theory work on contract design for afforestation programs.
• Research Fellow at the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), Kampala, Uganda [Fall 2019]
  • I worked with the Trees-on-Farms for Biodiversity team in Uganda. I presented my research to local stakeholders from public, non-profit and private sectors. I also conducted focus group interviews with smallholder farmers in Mukono district on their tree-usage behavior.

Research

• Simple and Optimal Contract Design for Payment for Ecosysterm Services
  • Joint work with Itai Ashlagi and Irene Lo.
  • Our paper is published in the Management Science Special Issue on Business and Climate!
  • Our paper was accepted and presented at the 4th MD4SG workshop in August 2020.
  • I presented an earlier version of this work at the 2019 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA and the 2019 Natural Capital Symposium in Stanford, CA.
• Contract Design for Afforestation Programs
  • Joint work with Nicole Immorlica and Brendan Lucier.
  • Our paper was accepted and presented at the AI for Social Good workshop in July 2020, and the Conference on Web and Internet Economics (WINE) in December 2021.
  • We were one of the winners of the Global Challenges in Economics and Computation (GCEC) Request for Proposals in July 2020. We used the funding to survey 400 smallholder farmers in Uganda.
  • I was awarded with the Stanford King Center on Global Development’s spring 2020 Graduate Student Research Funding.
  • Most recent version available upon request.
• Welfare Impacts of Travel Delays in Queues
  • I presented this work at the 2018 INFORMS Annual Meetings in Phoenix, AZ.

Leadership

• Co-organizer of Mechanism Design for Social Good (MD4SG) [Fall 2020 - Present]
  • I oversee internal operations of 9 working groups and lead the organizational strategy effort.
• Co-organizer of the Environment Working Group at MD4SG [2020]
  • Our working group is composed of researchers across diverse geographical locations and academic disciplines. We meet virtually bi-weekly.
• Member of School of Engineering Dean’s Graduate Student Advisory Council (DGSAC) [2019 - 2020]
• Director of Academic Diversity (Excutive Cabinet member) of the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) [2018 - 2019]
  • I created the "Demystifying Grad School" panel series with the Undergraduate Advising and Research office (UAR), which discusses practical matters related to starting graduate school and pursuing academia with the underrepresented undergraduate community.

Awards & Honors

• Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship [2018 - 2020]
• Stanford School of Engineering Graduate Fellowship [2016 - 2018]
• Phyllis Fleming Prize for Excellence in Physics, Wellesley College [2016]
• Phi Beta Kappa Society, Sigma Xi Society, magna cum laude, Wellesley College [2016]
• United World College Davis Scholar, Wellesley College [2012 - 2016]

Academic Service & Teaching

• Member of the program committee, The Twenty-Fourth ACM Conference on Economics and Computation (EC'23) [2023]
• Member of the program committee, ACM conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization (EAAMO) [2021, 2022]
• Member of the program committee, Operations of people-centric system at ACM EC'21 [2021]
• Diversity & Inclusion Co-chair, 4th Workshop on Mechanism Design for Social Good [2020]
• Member of the program committee, 4th Workshop on Mechanism Design for Social Good [2020]
• Member of the program committee, AI for Social Good workshop [2020, 2021]
• Course assistant, MS&E 220 Probability Analysis (master level course) [Summer 2017, Summer 2018]
• Course assistant, OIT 262 Operations (MBA course at Stanford Graduate School of Business) [Spring 2017, Spring 2018]

About me

• 2016 - 2021: Stanford University @ CA

  I successefully defended my dissertation in April and completed my PhD in May 2021. Thesis committee: Itai Ashlagi, Irene Lo, John Weyant, Ramesh Johari, Alex Teytelboym and Jim Leape.

  I was a member of the Stanford Ceramic Club where I made pottery and managed the kiln.

• 2012 - 2016: Wellesley College @ MA
  I graduated magna cum laude with a major in Physics and a minor in Computer Science.
• 2010 - 2012: United World College (UWC) Mahindra College @ Pune, India
• 2008 - 2010: Suzhou High School @ Suzhou, China
• Prior to 2008: Hometown @ Xuzhou (徐州), China

Contact me

You can email me at "first name" DOT daili AT gmail DOT com.