The write stuff: Doctor of Technology student finds audience for his musings about technology

Few things delight Aaron Lai as much as the innovative dynamic created by unlikely pairings, especially the marriage of science and math to art and literature. Turns out he is not alone. He’s discovering there is a demand for his art-infused scientific style of writing.

The Purdue University online Doctor of Technology (DTech) student is on track to have four papers published this year — including three in ORMS Today, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) professional journal, within a 12-month period. INFORMS is one of the largest organizations for analytics professionals.

Making his journey even more exciting is the opportunity to explore the ways technology impacts the world around him. The results are articles that use familiar and relatable humanities themes to explain complex scientific ideas.

“I always, always loved to write,” Lai said. “I have an interest in literature and art, so I ask, ‘What innovation can art exposure help you understand so you can solve it?’”

Lai’s career has been in the banking, finance and healthcare industries. His most recent roles include director of data and analytics for a health data organization and a senior fellow with Purdue’s Krenicki Center for Business Analytics and Machine Learning.

In his March 2026 article published in ORMS Today, Lai opens with William Shakespeare’s “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!” to illustrate the urgency healthcare providers face during emergencies and how artificial intelligence can assist in uncovering hidden medical problems in patients.

Co-authored with Li-Lin Liang, an associate professor at the Institute of Public Health and the deputy director of the Health Innovation Center at Taiwan’s National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Lai discusses the creation of “a large language model tool” to help triage patients, especially during large emergencies.

That article follows his October 2025 treatise, also published in ORMS Today, which calls for increased governance of the data shared with AI. Lai argues biased healthcare data will misinform the large language model (LLM) learning from it, leading to harmful side effects for patients and society.

In the section entitled “Sisyphus of AI and the Rock of Healthcare,” Lai writes, “Health AI is the Mr. Godot in ‘Waiting for Godot’: We have been told that he will come very soon, but just not yet. Healthcare is a very complex field, and it is helpful to go back to the basics of knowledge acquisition…”

His third ORMS Today article, which is in the review process, explores LLMs and misinformation campaigns. It is based on his presentation to Academia Sinica, a top government research institution in Taiwan.

Lastly, he has an article under “resubmit with minor revision” for Names, A Journal of Onomastics. It is about how people name their babies “and how that is affected by the popular culture, by the Emmy Awards and that kind of stuff,” Lai said.

“I like talking about different things,” Lai (pictured left) said. “When I talk to people, I hear good ideas and I think, ‘I can use that.’”

Lai discovered his passion for writing and interest in finance in 1994 while working for a Hong Kong newspaper. He heard about Purdue from one of his professors, and after attending a Purdue alumni event in Hong Kong, he knew he wanted to earn his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Purdue.

While working on his MBA, Lai joined a nationwide project examining the causes of bankruptcy in the US. His team reviewed bankruptcy filings in Cook County, Ill., and found medical bills played a major role. It created an interest in the healthcare sector, an industry Lai had never considered.

At first, Lai continued his planned career trajectory. Robert Johnson, a former Purdue professor, told him about a consumer banking opening with a global financial institution in San Francisco. Lai fell in love with the weather, the food and the woman that became his wife. Over the years, he changed roles and financial institutions.

Then Lai said he had a midlife crisis. He moved to London and enrolled in Oxford University, where he earned two master’s degrees: one in sociology and one in evidence-based healthcare.

“I want to go somewhere else, do something different,” Lai said.

When he returned to the US, it was to work as a senior manager in the healthcare industry, analyzing and responding to trends in the market. One of the trends he followed closely was the rise of technology in healthcare, especially AI.

His curiosity led him back to Purdue in 2024. The DTech program’s online modality allowed him to continue working full time in San Francisco while working on his degree. When his job as the director of data and analytics at a health data company was eliminated due to 2025’s government funding cuts, Lai said it freed him to devote more time to studying, researching and writing.

“I like to say I have early retirement,” Lai said.

“I plan to do more academic writing because I have more time. I’m planning to use the research I have already done for my thesis and make it into more academic writing. The goal I have set for myself is about one public speaking engagement or one publication per quarter and I think I can I hold it for the next 10, 20 years.”

As a DTech student, Lai is exploring how technology can improve medical outcomes. He is currently researching how to use AI for emergency disaster triage during earthquakes. That has inspired him to enlist with the California State Guard to help with disasters.

Lai said he hopes his doctorate will ultimately free him to write and teach virtually for a university while traveling the world. In the meantime, the DTech program is improving both his skills and opening new doors to fulfill his life goals.

Learn more about the Doctor of Technology at the program’s website.