Sustainable China Lab (Past)

In the Sustainable China Lab at Cornell University, we work with Dr. Juliet Lu on her postdoctoral project, "Wheels of Change: Equitable Engagement in the Global Tire Industry's Sustainable Rubber Supply Chain Turn." We contribute to key research tasks and learn the processes and skills underlying academic research. We are responsible for a combination of research tasks and communications tasks tailored to our specific interests and professional goals. The vision for this lab is to assist and learn from Dr. Juliet Lu, as well as contribute to our academic knowledge of research and create transferable skillsets for our future endeavors.

2021-2022 Members

Zhuang Han

Zhuang Han is a M.S./Ph.D. Candidate in Development Sociology. His research examines the interaction between and integration of different groups of people living in border cities. His research is geographically focused on border areas in China, and substantively focuses on social change, population dynamics, family demography, and immigration.  

Aurora Zhang

Aurora (YingYun) Zhang is a double major in Government and Information Science. She was born and raised in Yunnan, China's "Frontier Gate" to Southeast Asia. She is interested in the political economy dynamics in the China-Myanmar and China-Laos border areas. She is also interested in how global migrations interact with technology diffusion, sustainability in international development, and shaping the digital divide. 

Isaac Herzog

Isaac is double majoring in China & Asia Pacific Studies (CAPS) and Linguistics. He has traveled to China multiple times, including through the US government's National Security Language Initiative for Youth fellowship. In addition to work at Sustainable China Lab, he is also a research assistant within the History department collecting data on police brutality in early-to-mid twentieth century America. His research interests include Sinitic philology, syntax, Chinese political economy, and international relations. After my undergraduate studies, he plans to attend graduate school or pursue a PhD and ultimately work in US-China relations or within the field of philology. Outside of academics, he enjoys reading, playing guitar, and sudoku, and is a member of Cornell Glee Club.

Angela (RuoYi) Pan graduated from Cornell in 2022 with a double major in Government and China & Asia-Pacific Studies. She is interested in the role of China in development aid, its role in sustainable development, and international cooperation. She was a 2022 intern at the Wilson Center's China Environment Forum and loves baking and exploring waterfalls around Ithaca!

2020-2021 Members

The lab accomplished a number of things this year, including the publication of this piece on One Green Planet entitled, "Making Rubber Sustainable, from Tree to Tire."

Amber Zhang 

Amber Zhuang graduated in 2021 with a major in Development Sociology and a minor in Business. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in environmental law that utilizes interdisciplinary approaches to solve climate change issues. In her free time, she likes to watch vapid reality TV and practice mindfulness. 

Jada Kissi

Jada Kissi graduated from Cornell in 2021 with a double major in Communication and Development Sociology, and minors in Demography and Leadership. Her research focus spanned development aid and women's sexual and reproductive health. She is in the process of finalizing and publishing my research paper, The Ties Between Sexually Empowering Ghanaian Women and Family Planning. Her hobbies are writing, hiking, and watching This is Us. You can find her on LinkedIn here and check out her blog here.

Maggie Gaus

Maggie graduated from Cornell in 2022 with a double major in Development Sociology and Environment and Sustainability Studies. Her research interests include political ecology, environmental justice, and climate change communication. Aside from the Sustainable China Lab, she was also a research assistant for the Civic Ecology Lab, where she studied the intersection of urban agriculture education and youth engagement. She was the president of the Cornell Coffee Club and a violist in Cornell Orchestras. She enjoys hiking, playing music, and vegan baking.