Hanson L. Yan
Newport Coast,USA
Summary
I am passionate about solving some of the world's most difficult problem by building AI products.
Overview
4
4
years of professional experience
Work History
Founder
Figwork
Sunnyvale, CA
01.2026 - Current
- Founded figwork.info, human intelligence platform connecting over 200,000 early-career workers with paid business tasks.
- Designed system for task scoping, skill verification, and scalable human-AI collaboration.
Research Associate
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
08.2025 - Current
- Co-author, arXiv: A Systematic Study of Model Extraction Attacks on Graph Foundation Models
- Contributed to experimental design, benchmarking, model evaluation, and applied deployment research under faculty supervision.
- Analyzed and synthesized relevant literature to provide updated information for research projects.
- Assisted in designing and implementing experiments, contributing to project development and execution.
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Triple V (c)( ) Non-Profit Organization
La Jolla, CA
08.2022 - Current
- Scaled organization to 70,000 members ( 40x growth in 2 months).
- Orchestrated philanthropic initiatives, including fundraising for earthquake victims in Turkey and hosting empowerment events for underprivileged students.
- Lead “TripleV-Me” project that records the stories of exemplary youth and spotlights underprivileged students who are outstanding in the community, currently over 1000+ interviews.
- Launch 20 under 20 Fellowship for underprivileged students who are outstanding in the community.
- Provide care and support for Ukraine students by organizing community events and facilitating new friendships.
- Designed programs to actively support affected youth in the Ukraine community and their families by providing peer-to-peer mentorship and resources they need to transition physically, academically, and mentally.
- Initiated the collaboration with multiple Non-profits locally and nationally, including the Boys and Girls Club of Greater San Diego organization, Cristo Rey Network, Hands On San Diego, Advance Student Forward, and Lion’s Heart.
- Hosted and built a summer camp targeting peer mentorship to provide role models for underprivileged San Diego middle school and high school students.
- Organized weekly volunteer and community events (e.g., Beach Clean-Up, Holiday Life Changer Gift Wrapping, Role Model Mixers, Ukraine Community Meet-Up, etc.).
- Created an exclusive Triplev database featuring 1000+ opportunities for high school/college students in San Diego and beyond, including but not limited to scholarships, internships.
Research Associate
ACM Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD)
Barcelona, Spain
08.2022 - 02.2024
- First-author paper: “Evaluating and Predicting the Quality of Mental Health Support Responses Using Large Language Models.”
- Accepted for publication in ACM KDD Conference Proceedings; second paper in preparation.
- Conducted longitudinal research analyzing four decades of psychology curricula.
- Designed youth mental-health study examining expectation, uncertainty, and surprise.
- Collaborated with researchers from Stanford University, University of Michigan, and University of Chicago.
Project Lead & Liaison
Zhiai.co
06.2022 - 01.2024
- Led cross-functional teams to design and deploy a digital avatar–based AI platform for mental health and peer mentorship.
- Built multi-agent LLM system with anthropomorphic role-play, conversational memory, and adaptive response mechanisms.
- Oversaw ethical deployment, safety alignment, and end-to-end product launch.
Research Associate
Education for Persistence & Innovation Center (EPIC), Teachers College, Columbia University
New York
12.2022 - 05.2023
- Contributed to predictive modeling of college students’ psychological health and personalized intervention strategies.
- Conducted large-scale analysis of teen mental-health inquiries using structured linguistic and frequency-based methods.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Economics
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA06-2029
High School Diploma -
St. Margarets Episcopal School
San Juan Capostrano05-2025
Skills
- Technical: Advanced Excel, PowerPoint, C, C, Adobe Video Editing
- Scientific writing
- Literature reviews
- Ethics compliance
- Data interpretation
- Research and analysis
- Advanced C development skills
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
SMES Stories — Founder & President June 2022 – Present Built student alumni interview and storytelling initiative archived by the school. Boys Junior Varsity Golf January 2021 – Present Competed in high-level tournaments; mentored new players and organized team events. SMES Stories — Founder & President June 2022 – Present Built student alumni interview and storytelling initiative archived by the school. Boys Junior Varsity Golf January 2021 – Present Competed in high-level tournaments; mentored new players and organized team events.
Languages
Fluent English, Native Mandarin Chinese
Interests
Piano, French Horn, Basketball, Soccer, Golf, Swimming, Ethical Hacking, Journalism, Stock & Cryptocurrency Trading
Timeline
Founder
Figwork
01.2026 - Current
Research Associate
University of Southern California
08.2025 - Current
Research Associate
Education for Persistence & Innovation Center (EPIC), Teachers College, Columbia University
12.2022 - 05.2023
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Triple V (c)( ) Non-Profit Organization
08.2022 - Current
Research Associate
ACM Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD)
08.2022 - 02.2024
Project Lead & Liaison
Zhiai.co
06.2022 - 01.2024
Bachelor of Science - Economics
University of Southern California
High School Diploma -
St. Margarets Episcopal School
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
- William R. Simms Award for Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy January 2024, Recognized for exceptional youth leadership and philanthropic impact; invited to AFP (Toronto)., Stevie Award Winner — Organization of the Year (Bronze), Non-Profit November 2023
- Awarded to Triple V., Finalist — San Diego Business Journal Nonprofit Organization & Leader of the Year September 2023
SUMMER PROGRAMS
- Northwestern Center for Talent Development 2024
- Brown University Summer Writing Seminar 2023
- Economics for Leaders — Foundation for Teaching Economics 2023
- MobLab Internship Program — Behavioral & Social Economics 2023