MSU-China experts

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Lawrence Busch is University Distinguished Professor of sociology and director of MSU’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Standards. His research focuses on the certification of food and agricultural products in both industrial and developing nations and the growing role of agrifood nanotechnologies in transforming food and agriculture globally. He was a member of a team of MSU researchers that recently took part in an international research symposium on food safety and quality in China.

Georgia Chao is associate professor of management in the Eli Broad College of Business and a core faculty member in the Asian Studies Center. She is an expert in cross-cultural management, human resources management and organizational behavior. Her previous research has explored cross-cultural influences in international joint ventures with China.

 

Peilei Fan is an assistant professor of urban and regional planning in the School of Planning, Design and Construction.  Her research interests are: high-tech industrialization, technology policy, and urbanization in East Asia, particularly China, India and Japan. Her current research focuses on (1) the catching up and globalization of innovative Chinese firms in the information and communication industries and (2) urban sustainability and land use in contemporary China.

Hairong Li is associate professor in the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing, and director of China programs for the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. His research covers emerging issues of marketing communications in international advertising, internet advertising, online behavior and mobile marketing. His recent studies examine governance mechanisms of agency risk-taking and advertising creativity in China. He hosts an annual global networking and educational program for Chinese advertising professionals at MSU, and leads a summer study abroad program "Advertising in Asia" in Japan and China.

Jianguo “Jack” Liu is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. He also directs the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability and is Rachel Carson Chair in Ecological Sustainability. Liu is an expert in conservation ecology and the human impact on the environment and on endangered species such as the giant panda in China. His latest paper, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reviews two of China’s largest environmental policies.

Andrea Louie is associate professor of anthropology and director of Asian Pacific American Studies. Her research explores how ideas constructed around "Chineseness" as a racial and cultural identity have been reworked as transnational processes bring Chinese from different parts of the world into contact with one another. Her current research focuses on the "cultural socialization" and racialization of children adopted from China in the United States.

Xuefei Ren is assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and the Global Urban Studies Program. Her research focuses on social change, the global political economy, politics of urban development, and art and cultural industries. Current research projects include international architecture and global city formation in urban China. A recent paper in the Journal of Urban Affairs looked at construction of the Beijing National Stadium as it relates to nation-building in the age of globalization.

Jeffrey Riedinger is dean of International Studies and Programs and professor in the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies. A political scientist with a special emphasis on China and other parts of Asia, his work applies theories of political economy and state-society relations to problems of economic development. His research explores how political liberalization and democratization reforms affect the distribution of economic assets such as land, and in the role of nongovernmental organizations in the formulation and implementation of development policies.

William Schmidt is University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education and the Department of Statistics. Co-director of the U.S.-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence, Schmidt’s research in the United States and around the globe focuses on content in K-12 schooling, assessment theory and the effects of curriculum on academic achievement. He has applied methods from the U.S.-based Promoting Rigorous Outcomes in Mathematics and Science Education (PROM/SE) project on a larger scale in China, where educational leaders hope to gain useful insights about math and science achievement from the data analysis.

Brenda Sternquist is professor of international retailing in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. She has conducted research in China since 1987. She teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in international retailing and graduate courses on the distribution system in the People’s Republic of China.

 

 

Weijun Zhao is associate professor and director of MSU’s Office of China Programs. His major role in the office is to develop, facilitate and coordinate the campus-wide collaboration and exchange with China in the areas of teaching, research and consulting services. His research focuses on comparative studies of US-China rural and agricultural development, food and agricultural policy. He was the member of the MSU team that recently conducted a joint research project on food safety and quality in China.

Yong Zhao is University Distinguished Professor of educational psychology and educational technology in the College of Education. He also directs the Confucius Institute and the U.S.-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. Zhao is an expert on classroom technology, language acquisition, and globalization in education. He developed a bilingual, bicultural immersion education model for young children now applied in the United States and China and an interactive online video game for learning Chinese culture and language.

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