Her research on cultural industries, global linkages and architectural knowledge exchanges in East Asian cities developed from her work with the chair of Kees Christiaanse at the Future Cities Lab of the Singapore-ETH Centre and with the chair of Herzog & de Meuron at the ETH Studio Basel. Born in Shanghai, Ying holds a B.S.E. in Architecture and Engineering from Princeton, an M.Arch. from Harvard, and a Ph.D. from the ETHZ. She has practiced and taught in New York, Shanghai, Detroit, Boston, Basel and Hong Kong.