Yian Yin is currently an Assistant Professor of Information Science at Cornell University. Prior to that, he was a researcher in residence at Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO) and Kellogg Center for Science of Science and Innovation (CSSI).

As a computational social scientist, Yian Yin applies and develops novel computational tools to understand how individual, social, and environmental processes independently and jointly promote (or inhibit) scientific progress and innovation achievements. His research has been published in journals including Science, Nature and Nature Human Behaviour and featured in media outlets such as Forbes, Scientific American, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review and MIT Technology Review.