About
I am a PhD researcher in Civil Engineering at The Ohio State University, with a minor in Computer Science and Engineering. I apply machine learning, causal inference, and statistical modeling to large-scale electricity market and infrastructure data under the supervision of Prof. Abdollah Shafieezadeh. I am a member of the Risk Assessment and Management of Structural and Infrastructure Systems (RAMSIS) Lab.
My research builds Python and R pipelines and predictive models for datasets containing more than two million electricity market observations. I study pricing dynamics, supplier behavior, grid resilience, and consumer decision-making, with an emphasis on interpretable models that support real-world decisions in energy systems.
I am also affiliated with the Energy Markets & Policy Team, where I study retail electricity markets, consumer choice, and pricing behavior. I am particularly interested in data science and applied research at the intersection of energy analytics, grid resilience, infrastructure systems, and public policy.
Selected Publications
View All →Robust Treatment Assignment with Uncertainty-Aware Causal Forests: Joint Optimization of Accuracy and Estimation Uncertainty
Yufan Ji, Abdollah Shafieezadeh
Expert Systems with Applications
An uncertainty-aware causal forest framework that jointly considers predictive accuracy and confidence-interval width to support stable, calibrated, and risk-aware treatment assignment.
Efficiency and Consumer Welfare Under Retail Electricity Deregulation: Analysis of Ohio's Retail Choice Markets
Noah Dormady, William Welch, Yufan Ji, Stephanie Pedron, Abdollah Shafieezadeh, Alberto Lamadrid, Matthew Hoyt, Samantha Fox
Journal of Critical Infrastructure Policy
A consumer-centered analysis of daily Ohio retail electricity offers showing that many competitive offers exceeded default utility prices and that welfare-improving choices were inconsistently available.
News
Received the Ohio State College of Engineering Graduate Student Travel Award ($1,000).
Selected for the 2026 Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. I will be in Washington, D.C., from August to November 2026 for the 12-week fellowship.
Featured in the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation 2025 Highlights and the Sloan Impact Series.
Selected and presented research at the National Academies workshop on Understanding and Addressing Energy Affordability in the United States.
Published Robust Treatment Assignment with Uncertainty-Aware Causal Forests in Expert Systems with Applications.
Passed the PhD candidacy examination at The Ohio State University and presented research at the APPAM Fall Research Conference in Seattle.
Received the Best Communication Award at the OSU CEGE Graduate Research Expo and the Best Presentation Award at the College of Engineering Graduate Research Symposium.
Received a $5,000 Sustainability Institute Student Grant and was featured in the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Energy and Environment Newsletter.