Yushu Zhu
PhD
Assistant Professor
Urban Studies and Public Policy
Simon Fraser University
Languages
My overarching research agenda is to develop an understanding of globalization, development, and urbanization/urbanism with a geographical focus on Asia-Pacific region. I pursue this scholarship by examining pressing and often contested issues tied to urbanization and globalization, including civil society, social capital, civic engagement, housing, and migration.
My work is informed by, and also contributes to, multiple disciplines, including urban and social geography, city planning, sociology, and political science. Driven by theory and research questions, my methodological approach is in general mixed, combining a range of quantitative methods, including spatial analysis (e.g. ArcGIS) and statistical modeling, and in-depth ethnographic methods. Geographically, I have experiences of research, teaching and community service in China, the United States and Canada.
Co-Investigator and Coordinator
09/2012-Present
University of Illinois; The University of British Columbia
Project: Governance, Social Capital and Civic Engagement in Urban China
• Survey design
• Conduct pilot studies
• Perform data analysis
• Coordinate research teams across different countries/regions.
Postdoctoral Researcher
08/2014-08/2015
Population Studies and Training Center and Center for Spatial Structure in the Social Sciences, Brown University, U.S.A.
Project: The 1920-1940 Urban Transition Historical GIS Project
• Use the recently released micro files of historical
census data to examine the residential trajectory of
immigrants for major U.S. cities over time and space
• Help restore the 1940 GIS street grids and build spatial datasets using
ArcGIS, Python, and R
• Supervision and training of student assistants
Co-Investigator & Visiting Scholar
05/2012-09/2012
D.C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies (LEWI), Hong Kong
Project: Sheltering the Floating Poor: Housing Access and Residential Mobility of Rural Migrants
• Perform data analysis of the micro file of 2005 mini census data of
China
• Implement qualitative fieldwork
NGO Volunteer (Part-time)
05/2012-08/2012
South China Community Development Center of Guangdong, Guangzhou, China
• Provide scholarly support for the organization
• Help organize meetings across different Home Owners’ Associations
and other grassroots NGOs
Community Informatics Project Coordinator and Analyst (Part-time)
09/2009-05/2011
University of Illinois
Project: East St. Louis Action Research Project (ESLARP)
• Supervise outreach weekends to East. St. Louis (ESL)
• Supervise the construction of community environment database of
1250 parcels and 60 blocks from ESL with ArcGIS
• Design community survey
• Supervise survey fieldwork
Research Assistant
05/2010-08/2010
Duke University
Project: Marketization and the Disadvantaged: Housing Stratification in Urban China
• Perform data analysis of the micro file of 2005 mini census data of
China
• Implement qualitative fieldwork
Research Associate; Project coordinator
06/2007-12/2008
Sun Yat-sen University
Project: Border-Drawing and Spatial Differentiation of Urban Governance in the Pearl River Delta
• Data analysis
• Sampling/questionnaire design
• Recruitment and training of interviewers
• Supervision of fieldwork and data input
• Financial management
Research Intern (Part-time)
08/2006-11/2006
Provincial Center for Urban Development Studies, Guangzhou, China
• Assisted with provincial strategic planning projects
Mandarin (native)
English (advanced)
Cantonese (advanced)
Hakka (native)
French (basic)
Computer skills
Stata
SPSS
Lisrel
HLM
R
SAS
GeoDa
ArcGIS
Python
EXCEL
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
09/2009-05/2014
Ph.D. in Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Dissertation: Building a Community of Our Own: How Can the Built Environment Help? A Study on Communal Space and Community Participation in Urban China
Sun Yat-sen University, China
09/2005-06/2007
M.S. in Human Geography
-- specialized in Strategic Planning
09/2001-06/2005
Thesis: Urban Village as a Spatial Outcome of Social Exclusion: A Case Study in Guangzhou, China
B.S. in Geography (Graduated with honor)
RESUME
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