Jingran Yang is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Kansas.

Her research spans organizational economics, political economy, comparative politics, and American politics. Her most recent work in organizational economics and political economy has formally examined how informal networks shape internal competitive dynamics and lead to divergence in organizational performance. In comparative politics, she focuses on the social, political, and economic micro-foundations driving political regime transitions and social stability. In American politics, she is particularly interested in experimental studies on the causes of political polarization. 

Before pursuing her Ph.D. in Political Science at KU, Yang earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Renmin University of China in Beijing, where Qijing Yang was her advisor. Her early research focused on the mechanisms of personnel promotion within local Chinese governments. 

Yang is the co-founder of Meen Community(咪音社), a WeChat Official Account dedicated to promoting musical diversity in Mainland China.