Jianrong Yu (JR) 俞建戎

Professional

I received my B.A. and M.A. in English Language and Linguistics from the National University of Singapore and my Ph.D. in Linguistics from the Department of Linguistics at The University of Arizona in Tucson AZ. 

I am a formal theoretical linguist with broad interests in theoretical linguistics, specifically in semantics, syntax, morphology and how they interface with each other, exploring this broad question through the lens of verbal argument structure (broadly construed), degree constructions, and how their morphosyntax contributes to their semantic interpretation and vice versa. My most recently held academic position was as a post-doctoral researcher at the Center for Research in Syntax, Semantics, and Phonology at KU Leuven in Belgium, working under the project Comparatives Under the Microscope. Prior to that, I split my time as a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of English Language and Literature at National University of Singapore, a part-time lecturer at Nanyang Technological University's Department of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, and an adjunct lecturer at The University of Arizona's Department of Linguistics.

I am currently an Indexing and Quality Control Specialist with Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) operating out of the Singapore office, where I conduct quality control checks of the scientific quality of journals across MDPI's catalogue in preparation for their applications to be indexed in major academic databases (e.g., Scopus, Web of Science etc.). These databases are instrumental in ensuring journals' publications are visible and accessible to the relevant communities and also integral in helping researchers determine the right venue for their work in relation to tenure and promotion and funding purposes within universities. My previous roles as Assistant Editor and Special Issue Editor within MDPI saw me handling manuscript submissions behind the scenes, pushing them through the entire scientific publishing pipeline from initial submission to peer-review to copy-editing and proofing and final publication, as well as proposing timely and relevant topics that are actively being researched and discussed within the community of scholars for special collections of articles for MDPI's flagship linguistics journal Languages. 

I remain fascinated by natural language morphosyntax and morphosemantics even if I am only moonlighting as a linguist these days, but nonetheless am still quite content with having made the move to industry. Feel free to reach out to me about possible collaborations or thoughts about the topics I have worked on or if you would like to chat about leaving academia and joining the publishing industry!