January 2010
Current Position
2009-2012
Junior Fellow, Harvard University Society of Fellows
Education
2003-2009
University of California, Berkeley
Ph.D. in Political Science, December 2009
M.A. in Political Science, May 2004
Dissertation: “Negotiating the Boundaries of Political Tolerance: Environmental Litigation in China”
Dissertation committee: Kevin J. O’Brien (chair), Robert Kagan, Katherine O’Neill (Environmental Science, Policy and Management)
2002-2003
Cornell University
Full-Year Area Studies Language Concentration in Mandarin Chinese
1997-2001
Wellesley College
B.A. in International Relations, Summa Cum Laude
Refereed Articles and Book Chapters
"On the Frontlines: Making Decisions in Chinese Civil Environmental Lawsuits," Law & Policy 32:1 (January 2010), pp. 79-103.
"Studying Contention in Contemporary China," (with Kevin J. O'Brien) in Popular Protest in China (Harvard University Press: 2008).
“Unpacking Adaptation: The Female Inheritance Movement in Hong Kong,” Mobilization 10:3 (October 2005), pp. 421-439.
“The Female Inheritance Movement in Hong Kong: Theorizing the Local/Global Interface,” (with Sally Engle Merry) Current Anthropology 46:3 (June 2005), pp. 387-408. Reprinted in The Anthropology of Globalization (Blackwell Publishing: 2007).
“Hong Kong Haze: Air Pollution as a Social Class Issue,” Asian Survey XLIII (September/October 2003), pp. 780-800.
Other Articles, Reports and Policy Briefs
Toward Environmental Public Interest Litigation? Proposals for Legislative Change (Beijing: Natural Resource Defense Council, 2008) (14 pp.).
Evaluation of China’s Energy Strategy Options (with Jonathan E. Sinton, Nathaniel T. Aden and Mark D. Levine) (Berkeley: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2005) (30 pp).
“One Country, Two Systems, One Smog: Cross-Boundary Air Pollution: Policy Issues for Hong Kong and Guangdong,” (with Lisa Hopkinson) China Environment Series 6 (2003), pp. 19-36.
Wild But Not Free: An Economic Valuation of the Benefits of Nature Conservation in Hong Kong (with Lisa Hopkinson) (Hong Kong: Civic Exchange, 2002) (42 pp).
Addressing Cross-Boundary Air Pollution: A Comparative Case Study (Hong Kong: Civic Exchange, 2001) (24 pp).
Selected Recent Presentations
“Magnifying Repression: Uncertainty, Self-Censorship and Control Parables in China,” Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, New Orleans, February 20, 2010.
“Harnessing the Law: Environmental Litigation in China,” Annual Meeting of the Asian Studies Association, Chicago, March 27, 2009. Also presented at the Berkeley Comparative Politics Colloqium, May 8, 2009.
“Between Bureaucrats and Judges: Justifying Decisions in Pollution Cases,” conference jointly hosted by NYU and Columbia Law Schools entitled China's Changing Courts , February 20, 2009.
“The Nuts and Bolts of Social Science Research in China,” Center for Chinese Studies, University of California, Berkeley, April 22, 2008.
"From Rhetoric to Action: Talking About Environmental Rights in 2007 China," conference at the University of Michigan entitled "Toward an Age of Rights: Chinese Experience in Comparative Perspectives," February 2, 2008.
“Leveraging the Law: Chinese and American Environmental Lawyers at Work,” Qinghua University Law School, May 18, 2007.
Honors, Awards and Fellowships
2009
Abigail Reynolds Hodgen Publication Fund, Manuscript Preparation Support, University of California, Berkeley
2007-2009
Simpson Memorial Research Fellowship, Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley
2007-2008
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship
2006-2009
National Science Foundation, Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant
2004-2007
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
2006-2007
Pacific Rim Research Program Mini-Grant
2006-2007
Liu Graduate Research Fellowship in Chinese Studies
2003-2004
Horton-Hallowell Fellowship for graduate study, Wellesley College
2003-2004
Academic year fellowship, the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
2002-2003
Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship, Cornell University
2001
Best paper in International Relations and best paper in Asian Studies, Wellesley College
Teaching Experience
Spring 2009
Visiting Lecturer, Theories of International Relations, Mills
College
Spring 2006
Graduate Student Instructor, War!, Professor Ron Hassner, University of California, Berkeley
Teaching Interests
Comparative politics, International Relations, Chinese Politics, Contentious Politics, Law and Politics, Globalization, Non-State Actors, Judicial Politics in Non-Democracies, Qualitative Methods.
Affiliations
11/2006 to 1/2008
Visiting scholar, Qinghua University Law School, Beijing
8/2006 to 11/2006
Visiting scholar, Center for Chinese Legal Studies, Columbia University Law School, New York
Additional Professional Training
Summer 2008
Summer Institute for Preparing Future Faculty, University of California, Berkeley
January 2006
Training Institute on Qualitative Research Methods, Arizona State University
Summer 2004
Inter-University Program, Intensive Chinese language program, Beijing
Languages
English, Mandarin Chinese