Trained as a scholar of social stratification, Ruiyi studies how elites utilize international immigration to maintain and reproduce their advantages. Her research interests lie at the intersection of transnational education, international immigration, sociology of culture, and economic sociology. Using mixed methods, Ruiyi examines how elite families from recently developed economy, such as China, navigate transnational undergraduate education in her dissertation project. 

Worked as a teaching assistant and later assistant lecturer, Ruiyi taught a variety of college-level courses at USC, including but not limited to Sociological Research Methods, Social Inequality, and Global and Transnational Sociology. At DKU, she will teach Introduction to Research Methods. 

Ruiyi completed her BA in Public Administration at Henan Normal University. Later, she pursued graduate studies in the United States. She graduated from Brandeis University with a Master of Arts in Global Studies. Before joining DKU, Ruiyi earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of Southern California.