Zijin Zhang

Hello! I am Zijin (pronounced ZEE-jin). I received my Ph.D. in Technology & Operations from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, where I was advised by Hyun-Soo Ahn and Lennart Baardman. Prior to that, I earned a B.S. degree in Mathematics and Statistics from Nanjing University and studied as an exchange student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I will be joining the Carroll School of Management at Boston College as an Assistant Professor of Business Analytics in Fall 2025.

My research focuses on data-driven decision-making in operations management. Specifically, I study how data can be strategically managed and applied to improve operational decisions, centered around three core dimensions of data value:

1. (1) engineering value: how to design data-driven algorithms that support real-time and large-scale decision making under uncertainty;
2. (2) economic value: how to balance the cost of data acquisition with its decision impact via smart data selection and active learning;
3. (3) social value: how data practices impact society, fairness, and well-being, particularly related to data ethics and technology regulation.

These problems are studied through real-world applications, including offline data use in retail decisions, data limitations in emerging AI markets, and resource disparities in public-sector operations. Methodologically, I employ tools from optimization, probability, game theory, and machine learning.