Yiyang Shi is a first year Master’s student at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying Statistics and Operations Research. In 2013, Yiyang graduated with honors from UNC Chapel Hill and received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics. After graduating, she joined Homewood Children’s Village, a non-profit organization in Pittsburgh. Serving as the Data and Evaluation Analyst, Yiyang was responsible for identifying program goals with staff, developing informative metrics for the programs, and evaluating program outcomes through rigorous statistical analysis. Yiyang is passionate about utilizing data to help businesses and communities achieve sustainable growth and she is excited to work with the Kenan Institute on business and economic development projects.