Kennedy School’s Ash Institute welcomes Asia Programs fellows

The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) recently announced 11 new fellows for the spring 2009 term. As representatives from academic, government, and business sectors in Asia, the fellows will pursue independent research at the Ash Institute’s Asia Programs. For more than eight years, the fellows program has leveraged the talent of academics and practitioners from countries throughout the world, and encouraged the generation and dissemination of research in the fields of governance, innovation, and important policy areas focused on Asia.

“It is our hope that in welcoming such an esteemed group of Asia Programs fellows for the spring term, the institute can build upon its culture of collaboration, while driving substantial policy research within Asia and the U.S.,” said Anthony Saich, director of the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation. “These scholars and practitioners promise to enhance our strategic dialogue in a range of areas including Chinese administrative reform, urban governance, emergency management, public goods provisions, climate change, capital formation, and U.S.-China relations.”

With the assistance of Asia Programs, fellows will expand upon existing research or launch new research projects during their February-to-June term. Fellows have the opportunity to audit classes with instructor approval and have access to libraries, office space, and other resources to further their research goals. Throughout their tenure, fellows benefit from collaboration and networking with peers and the Harvard community through informal events and more formal research seminars with Harvard faculty. At the term’s end, the fellows will produce a final paper summarizing their research.

SPRING 2009 FELLOWS FOLLOW:

Amy Cheng is managing director and head of the Metal & Mining Team at the Bank of China International Holdings Ltd. She is also the deputy director of the China Democratic League Committee for Economic Development. In the past Cheng has led and participated in numerous initial public offerings, private placements, and mergers and acquisitions in Asian capital markets. Cheng holds an Executive M.B.A. degree from Guanghua School of Management at Peking University in Beijing, and will study mergers and acquisitions in the minerals industry.

Jianxun Chu is currently an associate professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), and a member of the International Communication Association, and the Committee of System Dynamics in the Systems Engineering Society of China. At the age of 27, Chu was the youngest principal investigator for several academic projects of the National Science Foundation of China, the National Social Science Foundation of China, and the fund of “President’s Prize” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Chu, who holds a Ph.D. in management science and engineering from USTC, will focus on crisis communication policy during large disasters along with knowledge sharing in collaborative social networks, especially for organizational communication in complex systems.

Zhixin Du is a senior program officer at the China Development Research Foundation. His research interests focus on human development and sustainable development in China. Du holds an M.A. in sociology from Peking University and is currently engaged in work on the urbanization of China. During his fellowship, Du will research the means for promoting efficiency and equity in China urbanization policies.

Baoqiang Guo is a deputy director of the Economic Committee of Minhang District People’s Government in Shanghai. Previously, Guo served as the committee’s principal staff member. During his six-year government career, he has conducted a wide variety of research projects regarding regional economic cooperation and industrial developmental planning. While at the Ash Institute, he will research urban governance and public goods provisions in the Chinese metropolitan rural-urban fringe zone. Guo holds a Ph.D. in history from East China Normal University.

Usha Haley is a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. She was a tenured professor of international business and founding director of the Global Business Center at the University of New Haven, Conn. Haley has also held full-time faculty positions at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; New Jersey Institute of Technology; Australian National University; National University of Singapore; and Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. Her research focuses on business-government relations, foreign direct investment (FDI), strategic decision making, sanctions, subsidies, and nontariff barriers. Haley holds a Ph.D. in management and international business from the Stern School of Business, New York University. During her Asia Programs fellowship, Haley will research governance and strategy in Chinese Outward FDI.

Wayne Huang, a professor of Information Systems (IS) at the Department of Management of Information Systems (MIS) at Ohio University’s College of Business, is currently a senior editor of the International Journal of Data Base and the executive editor of the International Journal of Internet and Enterprise Management. During his fellowship, Huang will research China’s Thousand-Hundred-Ten Project and its plan to globalize China’s service industry.

Malcolm Riddell is president of RIDDELLTSENG, a boutique investment bank he established in 1988. As a Mandarin speaker living in China and Taiwan for nearly 20 years, Riddell advises leading international financial services, insurance, and real estate companies on foreign direct investment in China, and represents them directly in negotiating these deals. Before RIDDELLTSENG, Riddell was an investment banker in real estate finance at Salomon Brothers (now part of CitiGroup); a U.S. delegate to the U.N.; and a CIA case officer in China Operations as well as a CIA Special Operations Group reserve officer. During his Asia Programs fellowship, Riddell will research the political economy of capital formation in the Chinese real estate industry.

Mingyang Tao is a senior financial expert at the Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC). His major responsibilities at the PSBC include daily management, strategic planning, and research on operations and development of the bank. During his Asia Programs fellowship, Tao will research the enhancement of rural financial services in China with a specific focus on the feasibility of microfinance, bank management, and investment operations in rural areas. Tao earned an M.A. in art at China’s Renmin University and an M.A. in management at the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University in Bejing.

Gonglong Wang, the deputy director and associate professor in the Socialism Department, Shanghai Administration Institute, focuses his research on China’s international strategy, Sino-American relations, and the Taiwan issue. In addition to his 2006 book, “Conservatism and the U.S. Foreign Policy toward China after the Cold War,” Wang has published more than 80 academic papers, with nearly half of them published in key core journals in China. He holds a Ph.D. from the International Politics Department at Fudan University. During his fellowship, Wang will study the transition of the international system and the new features of Sino-U.S. Relations.

Luozhong Wang is an associate professor at the Department of Public Administration, School of Management, Beijing Normal University. His research interests focus on public policy analysis and Chinese administrative reform. During his Asia Programs fellowship, Wang will research the mechanisms for orderly civic participation in the policymaking process. Through analysis of Chinese and American situations, he will identify lessons that China should learn from America and propose different kinds of participatory approaches for China. Wang received his B.A. in political science and M.A. and doctoral degrees in public administration from the School of Government, Peking University.

Huan Zhang is an associate professor at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Zhang earned his Ph.D. from the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, in Beijing. His research interests focus on emergency management and policy processes. Zhang, a member of the editorial board of China Emergency Management, recently founded the Wenchuan Earthquake Taskforce (WET) with the mission to promote links and synergies between Wenchuan earthquake rehabilitation, reconstruction, and redevelopment activities in the socio-economic, humanitarian, and development fields. During his Asia Programs fellowship, Zhang will research the emergency capabilities of China’s township management.