Yuqi is a physics-turned-journalist, immersing in tech, science, data, and digital tools that make life easier.

Curiosity about the rules of nature led her to study physics as an undergraduate at Tsinghua University. After trying to play with lasers and 2D materials, the same curiosity drew her toward the rules of complex societies. Starting with writing commentaries for school newspaper, she freelanced for various outlets in China.

To get closer to the stories, she became an intern reporter at Southern Metropolis Daily, a national newspapera, where she covered the intersection of tech, law, and antitrust issues. This experience earned her the Fanjingyi Journalism Education Award and admission to Columbia University’s Data Journalism program. There, she learned to leverage numbers and coding—skills she was comfortable with—to tell compelling stories.

An intensive research project on privacy policies during her internship inspired her to develop an AI-powered tool to automate the workflow, which later won a prize at Columbia’s venture challenge and led to the co-founding of Data At Large, LLC. Through this venture, she aims to provide data solutions for media and nonprofits.

Currently, Yuqi is researching AI and journalism, testing and developing tools, and working to bridge the academic and professional communities in computational journalism. She also gives lightning talks to raise awareness about privacy and safety concerns for journalists using AI tools.

In her free time, Yuqi is studying German and Japanese, slowly reading through her ever-growing book collection, and traveling.