People / Students / Class of 2027
Danfeng Li graduated with a double major in Economics and Statistics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Originally from Beijing, China, she began her academic journey at Beijing University of Technology, where she discovered a passion for extracting insights from complex datasets through mathematical modeling competitions and hands-on projects. She enjoys transforming raw data into actionable knowledge and designing systems that bring clarity and structure to complex problems.
Danfeng has gained experience across finance, logistics, and risk management. At IRiskLab, she collaborated with actuaries from RGA, a Fortune 500 reinsurer, developing machine learning proxy models that improved cash flow prediction accuracy for multi-million-dollar capital allocation decisions. She also interned at Guotai Haitong Securities and Sinotrans Air Transportation, where she built DCF valuation models, optimized logistics efficiency dashboards, and applied Random Forest models to analyze risk factors, bringing both technical rigor and practical insight to her work.
Beyond data, Danfeng is passionate about mentoring and leadership. She served as President of the College Science and Technology Association, guiding research and competition opportunities for over 300 students, and as a Course Assistant for ECON courses, supporting peers in mastering complex concepts. Through the MLDS program, she looks forward to deepening her expertise, collaborating with talented peers, and applying advanced machine learning and statistical modeling to create meaningful impact across finance, logistics, and risk management.
