Huanxiao Wang

Huanxiao Wang

/hwæn ʃiːaʊ/

M.S.Ed Student in Educational Stats

About me :)

Hi there! I am Huanxiao Wang (王奂霄), feel free to call me Shawn. I’m a master student in the SMART (M.S.Ed. Statistics, Measurement, Assessment and Research Technology) at the University of Pennsylvania. My research interest includes Assessment, Testing and Measurement, Causal Inference.

I was born and raised in China, where I completed my compulsory education and earned my bachelor’s degree from the Communication University of China. After moving to the U.S. last year, I began to realize the power of language and started thinking about how to assess it more effectively. For example, how to ensuring that international assessments accurately measure students’ true ability across different language backgrounds.

My life philosophy is to embrace the unknown. This is one of the reasons why I hope to pursue a Ph.D. abroad, where I can continue exploring new perspectives and ways of life. I believe these experiences will enrich my research and help me shape the lifestyle I truly enjoy.

Outside of my academic work, I enjoy spending time with friends, exploring cities and nature, staying active through sports, and playing video games. I also studied Guohua (traditional Chinese painting) from the age of six, and I plan to take it up again in the near future.

🎓 Education

  • Sep 2024 - Dec 2025 (anticipated), M.S.Ed in Statistics, Measurement, Assessment and Research Technology, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania
    • GPA: 3.59/4.0
  • Sep 2019 - Jun 2023, B.A. in Public Relations, Advertising School, Communication University of China
    • GPA: 3.72/4.0

📖 Conference Presentations

  • AIME-CON 2025, Paper Session Exploring the Psychometric Validity of AI-Generated Student Responses: A Study on Virtual Personas’ Learning Motivation, Huanxiao Wang, Pittsburgh, PA
  • IOMW 2025, Poster Session Exploring the Application of Generative AI in Educational Psychological Measurement: Virtual Personas and Their Validity,Huanxiao Wang, Boulder, CO
  • AERA 2025, Roundtable Session Exploring the Application of Generative AI in Educational Psychological Measurement: Virtual Personas and Their Validity,Huanxiao Wang, Denver, CO [Poster Link]

🔍 Ongoing Research Projects

AI in Measurement, Independent Research 🤖

I initiated this project in October 2024 after an internship at a human resource consulting firm in Beijing, where I became interested in using AI for item generation in personnel selection. This independent project uses ChatGPT-4o to simulate student responses on the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) and test their psychometric validity through factor analysis. I further applied GPT-4o embeddings and clustering to uncover distinct motivational patterns among the virtual personas. Preliminary findings were presented at AERA and IOMW, and the extended work will be presented at AIME-CON in Pittsburgh this October.

Meta-Analysis on AI-Assisted English Writing 📝

Under the guidance of Prof. Yucheng Cao, I am conducting a meta-analysis on the effects of AI-assisted writing tools on learners’ writing outcomes. I designed the study framework and am currently in the screening phase.

Aging Intervention Analysis 🧓

Under the guidance of Prof. Dawei Xie and Prof. Rebecca Brown, I analyzed intervention effects among older adults using health data in SAS Studio. My work focused on data cleaning, merging, and conducting pre- and post-intervention comparisons (e.g., functional scores, weekly steps) using nonparametric tests such as the Wilcoxon test.

🧑‍🏫 Teaching Experience

  • Volunteer Math Tutor, 5th & 6th Grade, Henry C. Lea Elementary School, Philadelphia, PA (Spring & Fall 2025)
  • Paid IELTS Teaching Assistant, Puxin Education, Beijing, China (Fall 2022)
  • Paid Math Tutor (Remote), High school students in China (Spring & Summer 2020)

🗣️ Language Proficiency

  • Mandarin (Native)
  • English (Fluent; IELTS 7.0)

🏆 Selected Honors and Awards

  • April, 2025, Individual Conference Grant, the Graduate School of Education Student Government Finance Committe, Univ. of Pennsylvania
  • April, 2025, Professional Student Travel Grant, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly (GAPSA) Professional Student Council, Univ. of Pennsylvania
  • March, 2023, 2nd Prize in the 14th The Chinese Mathematics Competitions, Chinese Mathematical Society

🗺️ Who’s stopping by?