At this virtual Alumni Talk, which was held on March 10, 2021, Pengfei ZHANG explained his journey towards becoming a PhD candidate in Economics at Cornell University. He began the talk by sharing how close interaction with faculties in Economics and related fields inspired him and got him fascinated by economic research.
Pengfei proactively reached out to faculties and sought opportunities to work with them. He explained that seeing faculties tackle real world problems through collaboration was a very different experience from listening to their lectures in the classroom, which largely influenced his way of thinking. He also shared his experience on exploring the under-studied subject of law and economics during the PhD years.
In his undergraduate years, Pengfei developed a game theoretic approach to studying epidemic and vaccination. He had his first publication with Prof. Wooyoung Lim at HKUST Economics on “Herd Immunity and a Vaccination Game: An Experimental Study”.
Upon the conclusion of the event, Pengfei answered questions from students on preparing for the PhD program, identifying the topic for research, and more.
More about Pengfei ZHANG
Pengfei ZHANG graduated from the B.S. in Mathematics and Global China Studies, HKUST in year 2016 before he pursued the PhD in Economics at Cornell University. His research areas include Law and Economics, Game Theory, and Development Economics. Pengfei’s current works focus on the economics of open access property rights, and the information design of dispute resolution procedures.
Find out more about Pengfei on his website.
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