Wooyong Jung

Postdoctoral Scholar @ UVA School of Data Science

Hello,

Wooyong Jung

Welcome to my blog! I’m Wooyong (우용), pronounced “Woo-yong.” I’m currently a postdoctoral scholar at the UVA School of Data Science, collaborating with Dr. YY Ahn (UVA), Dr. Byungkyu Lee (NYU), and Dr. June Jeon (KAIST).

Research Interests

My research interests primarily lie in Computational Social Science, with a focus on harnessing the power of computational techniques, such as Machine Learning, Bayesian Inference, and Large Language Models (LLMs), to solve complex social challenges.

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A Little Bit More About My Academic Journey

My academic journey has taken a winding and fascinating path, and I want to share some pieces of it with you.

I began with a focus on social science, earning a bachelor’s degree in Development Studies at UC Berkeley. There, I became deeply interested in the complex challenges and multifaceted solutions involved in global development and social transformation. This curiosity only grew during my subsequent master’s programs in Public Policy at KDI School and Applied Quantitative Research at NYU, where I delved into policy intricacies and the statistical methods needed to understand them.

Before embarking on my Ph.D. journey, I spent about five years as a research associate at the Korea Development Institute (KDI). My primary responsibility was analyzing socio-economic data from developing countries to provide critical insights for policy consultations. Yet, this work was often hampered by a recurring obstacle: the lack of appropriate and comprehensive datasets. These limitations frequently left important research questions unresolved.

Confronting these data limitations set the stage for a pivotal shift. Around that time, my interest in Informatics (or Data Science) was sparked by an enlightening article by Joshua Blumenstock titled “Fighting Poverty with Data.” It highlighted the immense potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the global development sector and its ability to reshape how we study social and economic issues. The possibility of using AI to overcome the very data limitations that had constrained my work was electrifying. I felt compelled to dive deeper into information science, hoping to wield this powerful tool to help policymakers make data-driven, evidence-based decisions.

I am excited to use this blog as a platform to share my research, findings, and reflections on the transformative power of informatics in social science and public policy. I hope that my journey from social science to informatics inspires you as much as it continues to inspire me. Thank you for joining me on this path, and stay tuned for more insights!