Outside of her professional endeavors, Wenwen identifies strongly with her cultural and spiritual heritage. She is a practicing Tibetan Buddhist in the Nyingma (寧瑪派) tradition, one of the oldest schools of Tibetan Buddhism. This practice is a meaningful part of her life, providing balance and insight that inform her perspective as a researcher and individual. In line with her spiritual interests, Wenwen is actively learning the Tibetan language, studying both the Amdo and Lhasa dialects. Embracing these dialects not only connects her more deeply with Tibetan Buddhist teachings but also reflects her dedication to lifelong learning and cultural understanding.
Honors and Awards:
Best Reviewer Award, Academy of Management Annual Meeting (2023) – Received top distinction (1/319 reviewers) in the Communication, Digital Technology, and Organization division
Best Paper Nominee, HICSS-57 (2024) – for research on ICT impacts in refugee communities
Best Paper Nominee, ICIS 2023 – for research on AI-assisted medical diagnosis in a design science study
GitHub Arctic Code Vault Contributor (2020) – Recognized by GitHub for contributions archived in the Arctic Code Vault (e.g., her open-source project on reject inference in lending)
Best Undergraduate Thesis Award, Zhejiang University of Technology (2016)
Professional Service and Memberships:
Journal Reviewer for the Journal of Strategic Information Systems and the Journal of the Association for Information Systems
Conference Reviewer for multiple international conferences, including the Academy of Management (AOM) Annual Meetings, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), and Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS). (Her exemplary reviewing led to the AOM award noted above.)
Media and Outreach:
Author, The Gradient – Wrote “Causal Inference: Connecting Data and Reality” (2022), an accessible article on bridging data science and causal reasoning. This piece reached a broad AI audience and even elicited a response from Turing Award Winner Judea Pearl, who acknowledged and discussed her article on Twitter.
Maintains an active contributor on GitHub (as “WynnDing”), where she shares research code and projects in her areas of expertise. Her GitHub contributions led to an official Arctic Code Vault designation, signifying that her code was included in GitHub’s long-term archival initiative.
Teaching Experience:
University of Arkansas – Graduate Teaching Assistant / Instructor (2021–Present): Wenwen has been involved in teaching undergraduate courses in Walton College’s Information Systems department. She has served as the instructor for ERP Fundamentals (Enterprise Resource Planning) and as a TA for Systems Analysis and Design, delivering both in-person and online sessions.
University of Hong Kong – Graduate Teaching Assistant (2016) for Digital Scholarship Centers Workshop. She has enjoyed mentoring students and helping them grasp complex information technology concepts in these roles, an experience that has honed her communication skills and pedagogical approach.