Renyu (Philip) Zhang 张任宇

Renyu (Philip) Zhang, PhD

Associate Professor (with tenure)
Operations Management Group
Department of Decisions, Operations and Technology
CUHK Business School
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
[Official Website]

Curriculum Vitae (Last update: June, 2025)

About Me

As a scholar, a teacher, and a practitioner in AI, data science and operations research, I have been an Associate Professor (with tenure) in the Operations Management Group of the Department of Decisions, Operations and Technology, CUHK Business School, The Chinese University of Hong Kong since September 2022. My research applies AI and data science to empower business decision making under the emerging trends in technology, marketplaces, and society. I am particularly enthusiastic about developing AI and data science methodologies (large language models, machine learning, causal inference, and data-driven optimization) to evaluate and optimize the operations strategies in the contexts of online platforms and marketplaces, sharing economy, and social networks, especially their recommendation, advertising, pricing, and matching policies. My research works have been published in Management Science, Operations Research, and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and recognized by various research awards of the INFORMS, POMS, and CSAMSE communities. My research projects have been funded by NSFC Excellent Young Scientist Program (优青), SMEC, STCSM, HK RGC, Tencent, and Didi. I serve as an Associate Editor for Operations Research and Naval Research Logistics, and a Senior Editor for Production and Operations Management.

In addition to my scholarly endeavor, I am also interested in creating a broader impact by connecting knowledge and practice. I am an economist and Tech Lead at Kuaishou, developing and implementing economics and data science frameworks to evaluate and optimize the user growth strategy and the ecosystem of the large-scale online video-sharing and live-streaming platform.

Prior to joining CUHK, I was an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at New York University Shanghai from August 2016 to June 2022, when I was also affiliated with the operations management group at NYU Stern School of Business. Starting from July 2022, I am a Visiting Scholar of NYU Shanghai. I obtained my PhD degree in Operations Management at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis in May 2016 under the supervision of Professor Nan Yang and Professor Fuqiang Zhang. I got my B.S. degree in mathematics at School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University in July 2011.

News

I am organizing the INFORMS Service Science Online Forum Series along with Yuqian Xu. [Sign Up Here into the Email List.]

I am hiring a (full-time or part-time) Research Assistant working on Vision LLM and Agentic AI (see the JD for details). This is a half-research and half-engineering/product position, targeting motivated students interested in pursuing a PhD in a business area starting in Fall 2026. I also occassionally take RAs and research interns who share general research interests (AI and data science to empower business decision making) with me. [Email Me to Apply]

AI Courses for Business PhDs: Spring 2025, Fall 2024 Reading Group, Summer 2024, Spring 2024.

Prospective PhD students of my department: Please read this document or this Zhihu post (in Chinese). [Apply Here]

Prospective PhD students in Operations Management at WashU Olin: Please read this document or this Zhihu post (in Chinese). [Email Me for Questions]

Contact

Email: philipzhang(at)cuhk(dot)edu(dot)hk. Please replace "(dot)" with "." and "(at)" with "@".

Department of Decisions, Operations and Technology
CUHK Business School
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Cheng Yu Tung Building
12 Chak Cheung Street
Sha Tin, N.T., Hong Kong, China.

Quotations

"切勿要求胜利，只应要求一往无前的勇气。因为从坚忍不拔的奋斗中，你将为自己带来荣誉。但更重要的，你将为全人类带来光荣。"---古希腊奥运会格言，见Hung-Hsi Wu (伍鸿熙)《黎曼几何初步》致读者的话。

"God, give us Grace to accept with Serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and Wisdom to distinguish one from the other."---Reinhold Niebuhr, the Serenity Prayer.