Michael Wu, Lithium Technologies

Dr. Michael Wu is the Chief Scientist at Lithium Technologies. Michael received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley’s Biophysics graduate program, where he modeled visual processing within the human brain using math, physics, and machine learning. He is currently applying similar data-driven methodologies to investigate and understand the complex dynamics of the social web. Michael developed the Facebook Engagement Index (FEI), Community Health Index (CHI) and many predictive social analytics with actionable insights. His R&D work at Lithium won him recognition as a 2010 Influential Leader by CRM Magazine.

 

In addition to the purely empirical methods, Michael also leverages social principles that govern human behavior (from sociology and anthropology, to behavioral economics and psychology, etc.) to decipher the intricate human components of social interactions.

 

Through this combined bottom-up and top-down approach, Michael has developed a sophisticated predictive model of influence and an evaluative framework for understanding gamification. To tackle challenging open problems (i.e., the value of WOM, social ROI, or the loyalty implications of gamification, etc.), Michael collaborates with academicians to conduct research on these unsolved problems.

 

Michael believes in knowledge dissemination. He speaks internationally at universities, conferences, and enterprises on his findings. His research and insights have been compiled and published in The Science of Social and The Science of Social 2.

 

Michael was a DOE fellow during his graduate career and was awarded four years of full fellowship under the Computational Science Graduate Fellowship. During his fellowship tenure, he served at the Los Alamos National Lab conducting research in face recognition. Prior to his Ph.D., Michael received his triple major undergraduate degree in Applied Math, Physics, and Molecular & Cell Biology from UC Berkeley.