PRIMO Alumni Profile Details

“I can't say enough about how awesome it's been interacting with students and faculty here.”

About

Stella Jia was born in the Bay Area and grew up in California her whole life. It was a unique environment having grown up around a lot of students who were also children of immigrants from various countries outside of the United States. The unique presence of technology in the Bay Area led her to study statistics and data science at UC Santa Barbara before transferring to UC Berkeley as a rising junior.

Throughout college to today, she is excited about how data science is applied in different spaces which led her to the PRIMO program.

She worked with Professor Jackie Lane in the Technology and Operations Unit in Summer 2023.

What kind of research did you and your professor work on?

The research itself is related to generative AI, like Chat GPT. My professor is interested in studying the impact of Generative AI on crowdsourcing innovative ideas for businesses. For example, what role can ChatGPT play in crowdsourcing challenges for companies that human diversity does not have?

A lot of companies use human crowdsourcing to find innovative solutions to certain business problems with the intent of getting a diverse set of ideas. In the innovation literature, the more diverse our crowd the more likely we can arrive at an innovative solution. Given the diversity of data Generative AI is trained on, a key question is can it access the same level of innovative ideas?

Is there anything that surprised you during your time in PRIMO?

It’s been so interesting hearing the diverse array of research topics in the business space while talking with other PRIMO fellows, HBS faculty, and doctoral students The questions each person is tackling addresses core societal issues but what is surprising is that while the work it takes to answer those research questions may seem minute at times in the past two months, I've come to realize the significance of this type of work in unraveling those questions. It's the basis of everything. So, it's important to be diligent and precise, even if it’s just collecting data or reading through hundreds of rows of survey responses in a Google Sheet. It’s all important to answer the big questions and extremely rewarding when all the pieces come together. I'd say that was a surprise, and it's something that I now have a greater appreciation for in the research process.

Is there something that you’ve reflected on that has been meaningful this summer?

Definitely the people and conversations. I mean, whether just small fun things, like going to trivia night, or going on runs with other PRIMO fellows and the wider HSURV community, to bigger, more formal events, like PRIMO socials. The conversations I get to have on a day-to-day basis, have not only exposed me to new perspectives but also broadened my view on the opportunities out there.

As someone who's not from the Harvard community, how would I fit in? From these conversations, I realized everyone is a student. They're all exploring and trying to figure out what they want to do in the future.. And so, I think I've grown a lot just getting to interact with everyone and showing myself that this is a space that I can be in.

When you're here you realize how universal the human experience is. And I think in the future, it will give me a bit more confidence. Just going into new spaces, being who I am, sharing my perspective.

Any advice for those who might be thinking about applying to PRIMO?

I think one piece of advice is just do it. It’s what everyone says. You just have to sometimes. Thinking is great, being introspective is great, but taking action and seeing what new experiences you get out of it is so valuable. Whether it’s sitting down to write that PRIMO application or reaching out to someone for a coffee chat, just do it and what happens after might be something you never expected.

Any advice for incoming PRIMO students?

In any space, it's more of a disservice to yourself not to share your opinions or ideas. So never let anything stop you from sharing your perspective.There is so much to learn from sharing your ideas and being open minded to the people around you and listening to other people's ideas. Don't prevent yourself from speaking out. And you'll realize that your ideas are just as valuable.