This May, the UF/IFAS Food and Resource Economics Department (FRE) was thrilled to recognize Dr. Yujuan Gao as the newest graduate of our Ph.D. in Food and Resource Economics program.
Gao, who was supervised during her Ph.D. program by UF/IFAS Food and Resource Economics associate professor Dr. Conner Mullally, specialized in the research areas of development economics, health economics, and the economics of education.
While at UF, Gao said that many of her fondest memories are those related to how supportive her entire advising committee has been throughout the entire research and dissertation process.
Her research interests were shaped largely by her fieldwork experience in rural China where they studied how text messages can change parenting behaviors. During this fieldwork, they implemented an information intervention at the household level, sending targeted messages to caregivers.
“I observed that even relatively simple information can lead to meaningful changes in parenting practices,” Gao said. “This experience showed me how powerful information can be in shaping behavior, which motivated my research focus on how information, especially through technology, affects outcomes like education, fertility, and early childhood development.”
For her dissertation research, Gao studied how information and communication technology affects human capital, including fertility, education, and early childhood development.
“Access to information is expanding, but its impact on behavior and long-term outcomes is still not fully understood,” Gao said.
According to Gao, the most valuable skills she gained through her time in the program were causal inference, research design, and working with large datasets.
These are all skills which will transfer seamlessly into her next role following graduation, as Gao has accepted a position as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Kohl Center at Virginia Tech. While there, she will continue her work on in the areas of information and technology, expanding her research into using AI to study how information shapes decision-making and development outcomes.
For other current and future students in the Ph.D. in Food and Resource Economics program at UF, Gao had these sage words of advice:
“Be intentional with your research, iterate often, and stay self-motivated.”
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