Jiayi Sun received her bachelor's degree in social work from West Virginia University in 2019 and her MSW from the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh in 2020. Before beginning her MSW studies, she spent a month as an international volunteer in Nepal. The impact of poverty and unequal resources in Nepal left a deep impression on her and made her mind to make a difference for people affected by poverty and inequality. During her MSW studies, she interned at the Brashear Association in Pittsburgh, where she developed a new youth program by designing interview questions, interviewing stakeholders, evaluating the feasibility of the project, and forming a steering committee under the supervision of the director of programs and services. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant at the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University in China. While working at Shandong University, she conducted research in various government-funded research projects on Chinese social policy analysis, social welfare policies evaluation, and nonprofit management strategy development. Her research interests include the working poor, inequality, and social policy in transition. She is also interested in the evolution of welfare state theory and differences in welfare state development across countries. She hopes to find the logical patterns of policy implementation in different countries and contribute to the development of the welfare state.