Yonghai Li
About Yonghai Li
Yonghai Li is a Principal Machine Learning Scientist at Expedia Group, with extensive experience in data science and machine learning, focusing on online fraud risk prevention and customer experience enhancement.
Current Role at Expedia Group
Yonghai Li currently holds the position of Principal Machine Learning Scientist at Expedia Group, a leading online travel company. Based in Seattle, Washington, he has been serving in this role since 2022. His responsibilities include extending online fraud risk prevention to the marketplace to enhance customer experience using advanced machine learning models. Additionally, he offers technical consultation to the head of data science for e-commerce, playing a pivotal role in developing the company's ML/AI strategy.
Previous Roles at Expedia Group
Before his current position, Yonghai Li held several key roles at Expedia Group. From 2021 to 2022, he was the Lead, Sr. Machine Learning Scientist. He also served as Sr. Data Scientist/Machine Learning Scientist from 2015 to 2020 and as Sr. Statistical Modeler from 2008 to 2015. These roles enabled him to contribute significantly to the company's data science initiatives and to lead various machine learning and statistical modeling projects.
Experience at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Yonghai Li accumulated valuable experience in the financial sector working at JPMorgan Chase & Co. He served as Sr. Statistician of Data Mining and Analytics, Direct Marketing for six months in 2008 and as Sr. Statistician of Pricing Strategy and Analytics, Retail Banking from 2006 to 2008. These roles involved significant data analysis and modeling to support marketing and pricing strategies.
Academic Background
Yonghai Li has an extensive academic background in statistics and economics. He completed his Ph.D. and Master of Statistics, as well as a Master of Economics, Ph.D. candidate (ABD) of Economics, at Oregon State University between 1999 and 2006. Prior to that, he earned a Master's degree in International Finance from Fudan University from 1994 to 1997 and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Nankai University from 1990 to 1994.
Engagement and Continuing Education
Yonghai Li remains actively involved in the broader data science community. He engages with the company-wide data science community for ongoing learning and training and participates in speaking engagements. By following industry publications, he brings novel modeling approaches to his team. He also conducts individual and group model/code reviews to ensure the optimization of machine learning solutions at Expedia Group.