Lucy Wang is an assistant professor of resource economics and a member of the Center for Personalized Health Monitoring in IALS
IALS: Hi Lucy, thank you for speaking with us today. We have a few questions for you so everyone on campus can get to know you better. How long have you been at UMass Amherst?
LW: I've been at UMass since September 2021.
IALS: Where did you grow up?
LW: I grew up in Tongling City, Anhui Province, China.
IALS: Does the love of science run in your family?
LW: I'm the only academic in my extended family, but a love of learning runs deep. My mom never had the opportunity to attend high school yet self-studied for an associate degree, a childhood memory that shaped my appreciation for education and discovery.
IALS: How long have you been teaching?
LW: I taught as a teaching assistant (TA) during my master's studies in economics and throughout my PhD program, and I have been teaching as full-time faculty since September 2021, when I joined UMass.
IALS: What is more stressful, grant proposals, research, or teaching?
LW: They are all stressful and fun in their own ways. But research takes the crown. It feels like solving a mystery with no guarantee of clues, the most frustrating when you're lost, but the most thrilling when things click.
IALS: Assuming your research is widely successful, how will it impact society?
LW: As a health and innovation economist, I study how innovation and digitization shape healthcare markets. I hope my research helps design better institutions (e.g., business models, policies, and organizations) that accelerate biomedical innovation and improve access, ensuring life-saving technologies reach more people in the U.S. and globally.
IALS: Who do you admire and why?
LW: I admire Lisa Su for her engineering and business vision that transformed an industry, and Hedy Lamarr for proving scientific innovation can emerge from unexpected paths.
IALS: What are your interests when you are not a scientist?
LW: I like playing musical instruments (kalimba, hand drum, keyboard), watching movies, jogging, and traveling.
IALS: Thank you so much Lucy!
Learn more about Prof. Wang's research.