Congratulations to the First Graduates of the Masters in Data Science Program

Among those walking in this year’s Convocation will be the first three graduates of the University of Chicago’s new Masters in Data Science (MSDS) program: Faye Dai, Harper Lyu, and Lai Wei.

Launched this past fall, the MSDS program welcomed 27 students into its inaugural cohort. The program was developed for students interested in pursuing research careers in data science, and its curriculum offers core and elective coursework in Data Systems, Foundations of Machine Learning and AI, and Data Ethics.

In addition, students leave the program having already completed (or in some cases just begun) independent research of their own. The MSDS program’s comprehensive final project offers students a chance to apply their skills to an area of interest, with the support of world class faculty. For some, this can be an exploration into a field they’re thinking about pursuing as a career, or even a first step toward a PhD.

Read on to learn more about what 2025 graduates took on in their final projects and what they have planned next.

Faye Dai, MSDS ’25

Faye Dai wanted to help regulatory agencies understand and predict how facilities respond to environmental policy. For her final project, Faye developed dynamic risk scoring methods to predict and visualize compliance patterns. Combining machine learning with interactive dashboards, she created adaptive models capable of learning from enforcement actions to update risk assessment in real-time. In addition, her research piloted data visualization strategies to communicate complex risk patterns with non-technical regulators.

Next, Faye will be joining the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business as a Teaching Assistant for the Expanding Discovery in Economics (EDE+) Research Camp this summer.

Harper Lyu, MSDS ’25

Harper Lyu’s final project focused on exploring cross-modality correspondence between 2D images and 3D shapes, in order to bridge understanding across visual domains.

This fall, Harper will begin a PhD in UC-Berkeley’s Applied Science and Technology program.

Lai Wei, MSDS ’25

Lai Wei was interested in exploring how market competition influences economic growth. For his final project, he leveraged data processing and machine learning methods to analyze large-scale economic and legal data on mergers, antitrust enforcement, and firm dynamics. His work classified and linked legal cases to industry outcomes, allowing precise analysis of antitrust policies’ effects on business and labor markets.

Following graduation, Lai is headed to the University of Michigan, where he will start a new role as a Research Assistant to Professor of Applied Economics and Public Policy Dr. Amanda Kowalski.

“This inaugural class of students came from diverse training backgrounds to take on challenges at the cutting edge of data science and AI,” said Director of the MSDS program and Assistant Senior Instructional Professor Edwin Lo. “It’s been exciting to watch them apply their newfound skills to their areas of interest, like Faye’s work in environmental regulation and Lai’s in antitrust policy.”

Congratulations, Faye, Harper, and Lai. We can’t wait to see what you take on next.