Qing Yao

Associate Research Scientist, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

I study complex systems and the dynamics on and of networks. Much of my recent work in Pei's group focuses on superspreading in infectious-disease dynamics, behavior-informed models, and adaptive mobility during hurricanes—topics that reveal how people and systems respond under stress. During my PhD in physics at Imperial College London (supervised by Kim Christensen and Tim Evans), I investigated higher-order interactions, temporal networks, and financial systems, which continues to shape the way I think about interconnected problems. I am also drawn to machine learning, data science, and the ways questions of human behavior and social equity can be explored through theory and data. You can find my CV.

My email address is qy2290@cumc.columbia.edu . You can find my list of publications on Google Scholar, and my past industry experience on LinkedIn.

Selected highlights

• Adaptive mobility responses during Hurricanes Helene and Milton (2024) — Brief communication on county-level adaptations; preprint on medRxiv. News story from The Washington Post, "A new era of floods has arrived. America isn’t prepared.".
• Superspreading & Bayesian GCN — Inferring dispersion and time-varying R_t with graph-based methods at US county scale.
• Behavior & mobility — Linking decision preferences (agency, loss aversion, temporal discounting) with NYC mobility via GAM/RF; preprint on medRxiv.

Last updated: Sept 23, 2025