Research gives me a way to test the questions that emerge from design, music, and public life.
My work moves between qualitative interpretation and quantitative modeling, drawing on archives, critical theory, case studies, and computational methods to examine how cultural and technical systems are formed—and how they might be reconsidered.
Title: The Symbiosis of Casualty and Religion: Re-functioning the Ancient Pagodas
This 12-page paper analyzes the geometry, symbolism, octagonal plan, and axial symmetry of the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda. It proposes transforming the pagoda’s vertical organization into a horizontal civic system of libraries, reading rooms, and theatres.
PDF coming soon
Across two rounds of the International Mathematical Modeling Challenge, I developed optimization models addressing renewable energy, computing demand, sports scheduling, fairness, and carbon impact. Working under four- and five-day deadlines, I documented the models, equations, algorithms, and results in LaTeX.
Title: Has Music Ever Significantly Changed the Course of History
Using Theodor Adorno’s critique of the culture industry and Stuart Hall’s theory of representation, this five-page essay examines how Billie Holiday and Charles Mingus used jazz to expose racial injustice, support protest, and shape public consciousness during the Civil Rights Movement.
Title: Within and Beyond the Walls: The Historical Transformation of Beijing's Dongjiamin Lane and JIanguomen
Drawing on archives, historical maps, and architectural scholarship, I traced 160 years of diplomatic and urban transformation in Beijing’s Embassy Area.