Xue "April" Li received her PhD from the University of Missouri in 2014. She is currently an associate professor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics as well as an author of multiple papers in top macroeconomic journals, including joint research with Dr. Haslag in Macroeconomic Dynamics and "Bayesian forecast combination in VAR-DSGE models" in Journal of Macroeconomics with fellow Mizzou PhD Kuo-Hsuan Chin.