Academic Appointment

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, 2020–present
-Trice Family Faculty Fellow, 2020–2022
-Jerry and Mary Cotter Faculty Fellow, 2021–2022
Faculty Affiliate, Center for East Asian Studies, 2020–present
Faculty Affiliate, East Asian Legal Studies Center, 2021–present

Peking University (北京大学)
Visiting Scholar, National School of Development, August 2022 – July 2023

Education

New York University
Ph.D., Political Science, 2020
-Dissertation: Essays on the Allocation of Public Resources in China
-Dissertation Committee: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita (Chair), Daniel Mattingly, Julia Payson, Adam Przeworski, and Hye Young You
M.Phil., Political Science, 2020
M.A., Political Science, 2018

University of Southern California
Master of Public Administration, 2016
Master of Arts, Economics, 2016

China Foreign Affairs University (外交学院)
Bachelor of Arts, English Language and Literature, 2014
Bachelor of Economics, International Economics and Trade, 2014

Publication

“The Political Resource Blessing or Curse? Patronage Networks, Infrastructure In­vestment, and Economic Development in China.” (2022)
Forthcoming in Comparative Political Studies

“Private Returns to Public Investment: Political Career Incentives and Infrastructure Investment in China.” (2022)
The Journal of Politics, 84(1), with Junlong Aaron Zhou

Working Papers

“Making Local Courts Work: The Judicial Recentralization Reform and Local Pro­tectionism in China.”
Under review, with Yishuang Li (NYU)

“Local Influence in the Central Government: Political Alignment and the Allocation of Stock Market Resources in China.”
Invited to revise and resubmit to the Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy, with Yishuang Li

“The Fiscal Logic of Political Responsiveness: Public Finance, Elections, and Public Goods Provision in Rural China.” Invited to revise and resubmit to Studies in Comparative International Development

Work in Progress

 The Political Logic of Public Investment: Political Institutions and Infrastructure Projects in China and the United States (book manuscript in preparation)

“Making Decentralization Work: The Party-State System as the Fundamental Insti­tution of China’s Economic Reforms and Development.”

“Why Bother with Laws? The Bureaucratic Logic of Legislation in China,” with Chuan Liu (UW-Madison).

“The Personnel Foundation of a Single-Party Legislature: The Political Selection and Legislative Performance in China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee (2003–2020),” with Chuan Liu (UW-Madison).

“Demystifying the Party-State Relations in China” with Chuan Liu (UW-Madison).

“The Bureaucratic Logic of Diplomacy: Evidence from Chinese and US Ambas­sadors,” with Yishuang Li (NYU).

“Democracy, Autocracy, and Political Dynasties,” with Junda Li (UW-Madison).

“Generals in the Government: The Civil-Military Relationship and State Building in China,” with Jingyuan Qian (UW-Madison).

“Turning the Blade Inward: Demystifying the Deregulation and Decentralization Program in China,” with Lizhi Liu (Georgetown).

Presentations

Workshops:

Peking University, National School of Development, Development Economics and Political Economy Seminar, November 10, 2022 (scheduled)

Peking University, National School of Development, “Workshop on Political Economy and Political Selection,” August 23, 2022

Peking University, School of Government, December 18, 2021

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics, Development Economics Workshop, April 8, 2021

University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, April 6, 2021

Fudan University, “Zooming in China” Webinar Series, November 17, 2020 University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chinese Politics and Policy Seminar (job talk), October 22, 2019

Peking University, National School of Development, International Conference on Comparative Political Selection, June 4-5, 2019

Peking University, School of Government, Workshop on State Governance, May 18­-19, 2019

Peking University, National School of Development, CCER Summer Institute, June 18-20, 2018

Fudan University, China-India Workshop on Development and Governance, June 8, 2018

Peking University, National School of Development, Rethinking the Economic Role of State, June 2-3, 2017

Conferences:

American Political Science Association: 2019

Midwestern Political Science Association: 2018, 2019

Teaching

University of Wisconsin-Madison:

  POLI SCI 840: Comparative Political Economy (Graduate)

  POLI SCI 324: Chinese Politics (Undergraduate)

  PUB AFFR 974: China’s Policymaking and Global Influence (Graduate)

  PUB AFFR 380: Analytic Tools for Public Policy (Undergraduate)

Advising

Ph.D. students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison:

Priyadarshi Amar, Political Science and Agricultural & Applied Economics (dis­sertation committee member)

Oliver Lang, Political Science (dissertation committee member)

Junda Li, Political Science (first-year advisor)

Chuan Liu, Communication (dissertation committee member)

Grants

Research Grant, East Asian Legal Studies Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2022, $7,500.

Fall Research Competition Grant, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2022-2023, $47,132.

Pandemic-Affected Research Continuation Initiative Grant, Office of the Vice Chan­cellor for Research and Graduate Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2022, $39,100.

Jerry and Mary Cotter Faculty Fellow Award (for research on legislative politics), La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2021-2022, $10,000.

Fall Research Competition Grant, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2021-2022, $41,616.

Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship, Center on U.S.-China Relations, New York University, 2019, $5,000.

Urban Doctoral Fellowship, New York University, 2019 -2020.

Provost's Global Research Initiative Fellowship, New York University, 2019 summer.

George Downs Fellowship, Department of Politics, New York University, 2019 Sum­mer and 2019 Fall.

MacCracken Fellowship, New York University, 2016 -2021.

Services

Disciplinary Service:

Reviewer for American Journal of Political Science; American Political Science Re­view; British Journal of Political Science; Comparative Politics; Comparative Po­litical Studies; Democratization; Economics & Politics; Governance; Information, Communication and Society; the Journal of Politics; Policy Studies; Political Re­search Quarterly; Political Science Research and Methods; Quarterly Journal of Po­litical Science; Regulation & Governance; and Studies in Comparative International Development.

Co-organizer, “New Faces in Chinese Politics” (with Yue Hou, Melanie Manion, Dan Mattingly, and Yuhua Wang), University of Wisconsin-Madison, May 6–7, 2022.

Co-organizer, Midwest Workshop in Empirical Political Science (MWEPS-VII) (with Rikhil Bhavnani), University of Wisconsin-Madison, November 19, 2021.

Co-organizer, “New Faces in Chinese Politics” (with Yue Hou, Melanie Manion, Dan Mattingly, and Yuhua Wang), Duke University, August 27-28, 2021.

Co-organizer, Zoom Webinar on “Doing Fieldwork in China: Conversation with Prac­tioners” (with Yue Hou, Melanie Manion, Dan Mattingly, and Yuhua Wang), March 23, 2021.

Program Committee, China Research Group Doctoral Symposium, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, 2021 and 2022.

Co-organizer, Zoom Webinar on “The Job Market For PhD Students in Chinese Politics 2020 and after” (with Yue Hou, Melanie Manion, Dan Mattingly, and Yuhua Wang), October 20, 2020.

Coordinator, Quantitative China Studies Seminar, New York University, 2017-2020.

University and Departmental Service:

Graduate Curriculum and Fellowship Committee, La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2021-2022.

Coordinator, Political Economy Colloquium, Department of Political Science, Uni­versity of Wisconsin-Madison, 2021-2022.

Steering Committee, Center for East Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, starting from 2021-present.

Co-organizer, Models, Experiments, and Data Workshop, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2020-2022.

Graduate Appeal Committee, Department of Political Science, University of Wiscon­sin, Madison, 2020-2022.