Current NYU Shanghai Global Research Initiatives Fellows

Professor Li’s research focuses on epigenetics, which is the study of heritable changes in phenotype that occur without changes in DNA sequence. Epigenetic mechanisms are essential for many cellular processes, such as gene-expression regulation, genome organization, and cell-fate determination. Defects in epigenetic regulation have been implicated in a variety of diseases, including cancer. The aim of Professor Li’s research is to understand the fundamental principles of epigenetic regulation. Toward this goal, he has chosen to study the fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe), a model eukaryotic organism well suited to a combination of powerful experimental approaches, including genetics, cell biology, biochemistry, and genomics. Importantly, fission yeast contains many conserved epigenetic components, and has thus emerged as a premier model for epigenetic study.

In Shanghai, Guo is going to finish his dissertation on the history of Chinese political elites and the development of state capacity. Several important scholars who share the same research interests are working in academic institutions in the Shanghai region, and so the fellowship will present him with opportunities to exchange ideas with scholars in his field. He will also be conducting archival research to collect historical data needed for his dissertation. As these are in the Shanghai area, he is looking forward to collecting  the data that required to complete this research.

Professor Jung’s research seeks to better understand how elective pricing operates in influencing consumer behavior. In a series of field and lab experiments, she has been investigating the psychological variables that explain the generosity of consumers under pay-what-you-want pricing. But there are still a number of unanswered questions about what contributes to such generosity and what sustains such behavior. Professor Jung is interested in working with Chinese companies to test how a different cultural system can engender or discourage generosity in elective pricing systems. Professor Jung is also interested in conducting field experiments to replicate the behaviors we have seen in the USA and in China to test the robustness of social preferences across different cultures.

Fan Zhang’s dissertation, entitled "Cultural Encounters: Ethnic Complexity and Material Expression in 5th century Pingcheng, China," addresses the issue of identity in the ancient world through an investigation into material remains left by people of divergent ethnic and cultural backgrounds. This research project focuses on the city of Pingcheng, one of the capitals of Northern Wei Dynasty (386-535 CE), a regime established by a non-Han ethnic group called Xianbei. During the course of the 5th century, more than one million immigrants and travelers arrived in Pingcheng from the Eurasian steppes in the north, the Korean Peninsula in the northeast, Central Asia in the west, and the regions ruled by Han Chinese in the south. The multiple waves of mass migration brought people of diverse backgrounds together and created an unusually fertile ground for vigorous cultural exchanges. Zhang’s research is intended to articulate how material culture served as an effective vehicle for an individual to express his or her newly found identity in a multi-ethnic society. Methodologically, this project takes an interdisciplinary approach that calls for analytical skills in art history, archaeology, and history. While at NYU Shanghai Zhang will conduct research on ancient China and on the issue of cultural interaction. She plans to access to publications in Chinese and work with professors and specialists at the Center of Global Asia, whose vision on connections and communications will be an asset to her research project.