Hello! I'm Jessica Wu
- Ph.D. student in Quantitative Marketing
- McCombs School of Business
- The University of Texas at Austin
I am a third-year PhD student in Quantitative Marketing at the McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin. I am fortunate to be co-advised by Prof. Rex Y. Du and Prof. Kathleen T. Li. My research leverages causal inference, econometrics, and machine learning to study consumer behavior and sales performance in retail. I’m also an avid user of MATLAB, Python, R, SAS, and Stata.
Education
The University of Texas at Austin
- Ph.D. in Marketing, Quantitative Methods
- GPA: 3.93/4.00
- May 2028 (Expected)
- Master of Science, Marketing (en route)
- Dec 2025
The University of Texas at Austin
- Master of Arts, Economics
- May 2023
The University of Texas at Austin
- Bachelor of Arts, Economics
- May 2021
- Minor: Business
- Certificate: Applied Statistical Modeling
Selected Honors and Awards
The University of Texas at Austin
- Marketing Bonham Memorial Fund Scholarship
- 2025-26
- McCombs Marketing Department Dean's Fellowship Award
- 2023-26
- McCombs Summer Scholarship
- 2025
- Office of Graduate Studies (OGS) - Graduate School Recruitment Fellowship
- 2023-24
- MA Economics Merit-based Tuition Reduction
- 2021-23
- Connect Data Consulting Fellowship
- Summer 2022
- Undergraduate Research Fellowship
- Spring 2021
- Omicron Delta Epsilon Economics Honor Society
- 2018-2021
Research Assistantship (Part-Time)
The University of Texas at Austin
- School of Architecture
- Urban Information Lab
- For Prof. Junfeng Jiao
- May 2022 - Aug 2023
- Department of Economics
- For Prof. Nitya Pandalai-Nayar & Prof. Olivier Coibion
- Python & Stata code running; Project IT Help Desk member
- Feb 2021 - Jul 2023
- Department of Economics
- For PhD. Candidate Lauri V. Kytömaa
- (now Assistant Professor at Cornell University's SC Johnson College of Business)
- In direct support of Lauri’s Job Market Paper
- Jan - May 2021, May - Sep 2022
They all regularly hire RAs and are amazing mentors—check out their websites!
Industry Experience
- The Concord Group
- Research Assistant (part-time)
- Jan - Mar 2023
- McCombs FT MBA Admission Office
- Data Analytics I& Technology Intern
- Aug 2022 - Apr 2023
- Philanthropy Southwest
- Connect Data Consulting Fellowship
- May - Oct 2022
- AngelouEconomics
- Research Analyst (part-time)
- Aug 2021 - May 2022
- Ernst and Young
- Risk Advisory Intern
- Jun - Aug 2018
More About Me
Before moving to the U.S. for college, I attended the High School Affiliated to Renmin University in Beijing. Outside of my school study, I love reading history-related books and am interested in writing short historical fictions. I also enjoy paddling on Lady Bird Lake, playing Texas hold 'em with my husband, and spending time with our four furry kids.