Yidan Sun

Hi! My name is Yidan Sun, and I am a second-year PhD student in the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California. I am a member of the Artificial Intelligence and Complex Systems (AICS) group at USC Information Sciences Institute, working under the supervision of Dr. Mayank Kejriwal.

My research interests span complex systems, network science, and computational social science. I am particularly interested in analyzing large-scale complex systems, with my current primary focus on using computational approaches to study human trafficking. My other ongoing research projects explore science of science topics, including collaboration networks focusing on scholarly publications and grant proposals, and broader social science topics, such as internal migration in the United States and financial inequities among vulnerable populations.

Prior to my doctoral studies, I earned my master’s degree in Analytics from USC in 2022 and my bachelor’s degree in Statistics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, in 2020.

Feel free to reach out to me at yidans@usc.edu / yidans@isi.edu

News

Feb 21, 2025: I will present our work, “Understanding the Drivers of Human Trafficking Using Massive Multi-Partite Network Modeling and Analytics,” at USC’s Cloudwalkers Premiere on March 11, 2025.
Feb 20, 2025: I will present our work, “AI Reveals Systemic Financial Inequities: A Study of CFPB Complaints for Older Adults and Veterans” at USC’s ShowCAIS Symposium on April 11, 2025.
Jan 22, 2025: My paper, “Scalable Estimation of Exponential Random Graph Models on Large Networks”, has been accepted for presentation in the PhD Symposium at TheWebConference 2025.
Jan 20, 2025: Our work, “Navigating Semantic Relations: Challenges for Language Models in Abstract Common-Sense Reasoning” has been accepted for presentation in the Short Paper track at TheWebConference 2025.
Dec 24, 2024: My study, “A Study of Firm-Switching of Inventors in Big Tech Using Public Patent Data,” has been published as Chapter 12 in Springer’s Social Network Analysis and Mining Applications in Healthcare and Anomaly Detection.
Sep 3, 2024: Passed the ISE PhD screening exam with my presentation titled “Structural Modeling of Campaign Money Flow in the United States House of Representatives.”
May 2, 2024: Received the Jenny Wang Excellence in Teaching Award from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
April 28, 2024: Honored as the Outstanding Teaching Assistant of the Year by the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
November 6, 2023: Presented two papers at The 2023 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining in Kusadasi, Turkey.
November 4, 2023: A press article on our work about patent networks in Big Tech is published. Read: Big Tech Inventor Mobility Leads to Higher Productivity.