●jialong@columbia:~/site$cat ./index.md
[0000,0000] · vim :e ./editorial
$ whoami --verbose ▍
JIALONG
> wang,
// climate_financier × behavioral_scientist
./portrait.jpg · render
200×240vectorized · 2026
// bio.txt · 612 words
I study how capital moves toward the climate transition — the mechanisms, the incentives, and the stories we tell about risk. Before Columbia, I read behavioral science and psychology at Duke and Duke Kunshan, where I learned to take human behavior seriously as a unit of analysis. On the good days I'm also a photographer.
┌── ./system.log ────────────────────────────────
› loc: New York (40.810°N, 73.960°W)
› tz: America/New_York
› status: writing a thesis, slowly
› reading: The Value of a Whale — Adrienne Buller
› tennis: rating: improving
curiosity█████████░9/10
caffeine█████░░░░░5/10
spreadsheet███████░░░7/10
certainty███░░░░░░░3/10
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────
$ cat ./credentials.yml5 fields · verified
graduate:Columbia University · MPA (STEM-designated) · Track: Energy Finance & Sustainable Investment · Aug 2024 – present
undergrad:Duke Kunshan University · B.S. Behavioral Science / Psychology · Cum Laude · 2020–24
dual degree:Duke University · B.S. Interdisciplinary Studies (Behavioral Science) · 2020–24
gpa:3.75 / 4.00 · Dean's List: Fall 2020, 2022; Spring 2021, 2024
languages:English · Mandarin (Native)
$ fortune ./about-me.txt
- 01Wrote my first R script to settle a dorm argument about NBA three-point variance.
- 02Lived on three campuses across two continents before turning 22.
- 03Will debate the aesthetic merits of spreadsheets at unreasonable length.
- 04Believes the best camera is the one you actually carry.
- 05Subscribes to more substacks than is strictly defensible.
$ whois --public
handle: github.com/Waaangjl ↗
linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/waaang-jl
email: jialong.w@columbia.edu
cell: +1 (646) 371-5548
“A spreadsheet is a kind of argument. So is a photograph. I am interested in both.”
> ls -la ./work/ --sort=year --desc
7 entries · hover to inspect
▸ 01 · SIPA Capstone · Team of six · Jan – Apr 2026
Quantum Computing in the Global Energy Landscape
A four-month technoeconomic brief for Wood Mackenzie's research desk on where quantum computing will — and won't — actually move the needle for energy. Six applications (grid optimization, nuclear R&D, battery chemistry, enhanced solar, energy finance, quantum sensing) scored on a three-axis matrix. Two presentations at Wood Mackenzie, a dozen industry interviews, and one phantom client lead who only ever appeared on Zoom.
#Quantum · #Technoeconomic · #Team of six
▸ 02 · Course project · INAF U6326 · Jan – May 2025
Renewable Energy Project Finance Modeling
A full cash-flow model for a wind farm project — debt sculpting, PTC/ITC tax-equity structures, P50/90/99 production scenarios, sensitivity tests, and an EPC-aligned term sheet draft.
#Project Finance · #Excel · #Renewables
▸ 03 · Teaching · CLMTC 5052 · Sep 2025 – Jan 2026
International Climate Finance — TA
One of two TAs for Lisa Sachs's graduate course on the architecture of climate finance — blended and concessional capital, debt sustainability, carbon markets, the UNFCCC framework, and the cost-of-capital determinants that drive capital allocation in emerging markets.
#Pedagogy · #Blended Finance · #UNFCCC
▸ 04 · Summer Intern · Jun – Aug 2025
Sustainable Finance — Silver Leaf Partners
Financial modeling, investor pipeline research, and pitch materials for a sustainable-infrastructure fund — carbon-removal deals, energy-transition credits, and a CRM rebuild that turned conversations into a working deal view.
#DCF · #Fundraising · #CRM
▸ 05 · Thesis · Political Science · Dec 2022 – May 2024
Framing the Crisis — Signature Work
Signature Work under Prof. Andrew Macdonald: 1,161 articles across four newspapers — central (People's Daily, Global Times) vs. Shanghai-local (Jiefang Daily, Xinmin Evening Post) — over the April–June 2022 lockdown. LDA topic modeling plus hand-coded content analysis. Finds central and local outlets running coordinated but stratified strategies — hard vs. soft propaganda — with local coverage pivoting to 91% "resilience" framing at the May lockdown peak.
#LDA · #Content Analysis · #China
▸ 06 · Paper · under review · May 2022 – Sep 2023
Tweeting Cheap Talk: Elites' Communication Strategies during Corruption Scandals
Co-authored with Jason Gainous, Kevin M. Wagner, Weiheng (Mark) Liu, and You Wu. 300,000 tweets from Puerto Rico's majority and minority legislators — Pandas + OCR data pipeline, sentiment and topic models in R. Presented at MPSA 2023; manuscript under review.
#R · #Topic Modeling · #Political Comms
▸ 07 · Intern · Aug – Nov 2023
Crisis & Security Consulting — Control Risks
Crisis and Security Consulting team. Client work spanned a warehouse security review (Itochu Taicang), HK cryptocurrency-firm regulatory research, threat assessments and mitigation plans, and a CIFF crisis-management workshop.
#Due Diligence · #Risk · #APAC
IDNAMEKINDYEARTAGS
▸ 01Quantum Computing in the Global Energy LandscapeSIPA Capstone · Team of sixJan – Apr 2026Quantum · Technoeconomic · Team of six 02Renewable Energy Project Finance ModelingCourse project · INAF U6326Jan – May 2025Project Finance · Excel · Renewables 03International Climate Finance — TATeaching · CLMTC 5052Sep 2025 – Jan 2026Pedagogy · Blended Finance · UNFCCC 04Sustainable Finance — Silver Leaf PartnersSummer InternJun – Aug 2025DCF · Fundraising · CRM 05Framing the Crisis — Signature WorkThesis · Political ScienceDec 2022 – May 2024LDA · Content Analysis · China 06Tweeting Cheap Talk: Elites' Communication Strategies during Corruption ScandalsPaper · under reviewMay 2022 – Sep 2023R · Topic Modeling · Political Comms 07Crisis & Security Consulting — Control RisksInternAug – Nov 2023Due Diligence · Risk · APAC// ./work/woodmac-capstone.md
Quantum Computing in the Global Energy Landscape
A four-month technoeconomic brief for Wood Mackenzie's research desk on where quantum computing will — and won't — actually move the needle for energy. Six applications (grid optimization, nuclear R&D, battery chemistry, enhanced solar, energy finance, quantum sensing) scored on a three-axis matrix. Two presentations at Wood Mackenzie, a dozen industry interviews, and one phantom client lead who only ever appeared on Zoom.
> find ./posts -name "*.md" | sort -rn5 essays
#01Apr 20268 min →#02Apr 20267 min →#03Feb 202611 min →#04Nov 20255 min →#05May 20249 min →
A capstone, in three conference rooms
Apr 2026
“In January none of us had seen a qubit. In April we were the ones explaining them.”
What a wind farm taught me about certainty
Apr 2026
“You build a model. You run 10,000 sensitivities. You still need to decide.”
Blended finance is a grammar, not a product
Feb 2026
“The deal's structure tells a story about who is trusted, who is guaranteed, and who absorbs the first loss.”
Notes on being a psychologist in a room of bankers
Nov 2025
“Discount rates are also a belief system.”
Reading Shanghai's lockdown through four newspapers
May 2024
“Ninety-one percent of the local papers' May coverage was framed around resilience. That's not an accident.”
> cat ./about.md
The long way around.
I trained as a behavioral scientist. Four years of learning to ask:
what exactly is going on here?
That same question turned out to be right for project finance, too. A pro-forma is a disguised argument about the future, and the assumptions are the footnotes.
I grew up between Shenzhen, Kunshan, and Durham — three cities that shaped how I read risk, politics, and weather. At DKU I spent my second year analyzing 300k Puerto Rican legislator tweets in R; at SIPA I now build 40-tab cash-flow models for things that haven't been built yet. Same instinct, different grammar.
Off the clock: Red Lion coffee, a backhand that's finally coming in, and a slowly shrinking list of places I haven't photographed.
// chronology.log · 12 entries
2024–now├Columbia SIPA — MPA (STEM) — Energy Finance & Sustainable Investment
Jan – Apr 2026├Wood Mackenzie × SIPA — Capstone — Quantum Computing in the Global Energy Landscape
Sep 2025 – Jan 2026├Columbia Climate School — TA — International Climate Finance (CLMTC 5052)
Jun – Aug 2025├Silver Leaf Partners — Sustainable Finance Summer Intern
2020–24├Duke Kunshan × Duke — B.S. Behavioral Science / Psychology · Cum Laude (dual degree with Duke Interdisc. Studies)
Fall 2023 – Spring 2024├DKU Residence Life — Resident Assistant
Aug – Nov 2023├Control Risks — Intern — Crisis & Security Consulting
Feb – May 2023├Trivium China — Intern Analyst
Dec 2022 – May 2024├DKU · Prof. MacDonald — Signature Work — media discourse, Shanghai lockdown
May 2022 – Sep 2023├DKU · Prof. Gainous (SRS) — Summer Research Scholar — PR tweets + US Congress dog-whistling
Jun – Nov 2022├DKU · Prof. MacDonald — Research Assistant — Zero-COVID media sentiment
Jul – Aug 2022├CITIC Securities — Intern (Shenzhen)
// finance.json · Finance & Modeling
Project Finance · DCF & Sensitivity · Debt Sculpting · PTC/ITC Tax Equity · Term Sheets
// research.json · Research
Sentiment Analysis · Topic Modeling · Discourse Analysis · Due Diligence
// tools.json · Tools
R · Python (Pandas) · STATA · MS Office · Qualtrics
// craft.json · Craft
Photoshop · Lightroom · Premiere Pro
// languages.json · Languages
English · Mandarin (Native)
// outside.json · Outside
Skiing · Badminton · Ultimate Frisbee · Hiking · Tennis (just started)
> cat ./now.md # last-modified: todayrevalidates weekly
●
[reading]
The Value of a Whale — Adrienne Buller
●
[building]
A small R package for debt-sculpting sensitivity runs
●
[listening]
Caroline Shaw — Partita for 8 Voices
●
[learning]
Tennis. Slowly. With great enthusiasm.
●
[thinking]
Blended finance for emerging-market adaptation
> ls ./gallery/*.ascii --render=chars
$ git log --oneline --graph -n 4
●a1b2c3dnow: reading list update · tennis rating +12h
│e4f5a67work: add renewable-pf sensitivity notes2d
│b8c9d01writing: draft ‘blended finance is a grammar’1w
│f2e3a45gallery: morningside feb photographs3w