Peng Shi

Specialties: market design, optimization, two-sided marketplaces, operations research, economics, matching markets.

Notes5

• Career timeline consolidated from his own 2026 CV: Duke BS Mathematics and Computer Science double major 2006-2010 (Angier B. Duke Memorial Scholarship); MIT PhD in Operations Research 2011-2016 (advisor Itai Ashlagi, thesis 'Prediction and Optimization in School Choice'); Postdoctoral Researcher, Microsoft Research New England, Algorithmic Game Theory group, 2016-2017; USC Marshall Operations Management (DSO Department) 2017-present, rising Assistant Professor (2017-2026) to Robert R. Dockson Assistant Professor (2023-2026) to Associate Professor (2026-present).2026
• Quant employment verification: UNRESOLVED. The only source stating a quantitative-finance role is the LinkedIn-derived index entry (treat as index-only, not independent primary-source confirmation), which lists 'Quantitative Analyst Intern, D.E. Shaw, Equities group, building models for aspects of the US stock market' dated 2008. D.E. Shaw & Co. is a genuine quantitative hedge fund (systematic/multi-strategy), so the employer classification is quantitative finance if the role is his. Identity is well supported by the academic record (Duke BS Mathematics and Computer Science, MIT PhD Operations Research, USC Marshall faculty, IOI 2006 and IMO 2005/2006 medals), but the 2026 and 2023 CVs do not list the internship and no primary-source document written by the subject corroborates it, so the role itself remains index-only and not independently confirmed.2008
• Won the 2024 INFORMS Frederick W. Lanchester Prize (shared, for 'Clearing matching markets efficiently: informative signals and match recommendations', Management Science 2019) and the 2025 Jagdish Sheth Impact on Practice Award; the Lanchester Prize is one of the field's top awards, marking him as a leading matching-markets researcher.2024
• Olympiad record: Silver Medal, IOI 2006 representing Canada; Silver Medals, IMO 2005 and IMO 2006; 3rd place in North America, USAMO 2005. Listed in his own CV alongside academic honors.2006
• Research applies market design to public and private resource allocation: school choice (his MIT work fed the 2012-2013 Boston Public Schools assignment reform adopted 2014), affordable housing, cadaveric organ allocation, and two-sided digital marketplaces; public-sector operations is his clearest real-world footprint.
• USC Marshall contact page lists email [contact omitted] and phone 213-821-1005, the most direct way to reach him.
• Between the Duke years and the D.E. Shaw internship he also ran an entrepreneurship project (a low-cost PHP webcam English-tutoring platform connecting Duke students to Chinese learners, 2007), suggesting his 2008 internship sat alongside an interest in applied software products rather than a pure academic track.2007