Teaching

The Future of Coal Regions Study Group: Field trip of interdisciplinary master’s students from Harvard to Charleston, West Virginia, 2023

Bridging Theory and Practice on Low-Carbon Futures: In and Beyond the Classroom

This Chinese proverb “Read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles” emphasizes the importance of bridging the theories we learn from books with experience gained in practice. It impels teacher-scholars to convey knowledge in a way that goes beyond theoretical lecturing to prepare students to experience and impact the real world. I view my role as a teacher and mentor as that of an inspiring tour guide who can support and encourage students to seek truth and knowledge.

During my time as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, I co-organized a study group exploring the future of coal regions, which included a field trip to West Virginia. I have also benefited from my extensive interdisciplinary experience at Georgetown, Harvard, and UC Berkeley, where I have been involved in interdisciplinary research on China’s approach to influencing energy transitions in developing countries, green industrial policy in the U.S., and policy programs and instruments on equitable low-carbon energy around the world. I have also delivered guest lectures on environmental and climate politics and policy at Johns Hopkins University, Peking University, Technical University of Munich, and Middlebury College, among others.

Teaching Experience

Teaching Assistant ​for senior seminar and graduate course STIA 451 (Energy and the Environment in China), Spring 2022, Georgetown School of Foreign Service.
     •  Helped prepare course syllabus
     •  Led in-class discussion, gave guest lectures
     •  ​Supported students in completing assignments – notably by addressing questions on research design, data analysis, data collection, and academic writing.

​Selected Guest Lectures

     •  “Rethinking Urban Infrastructure for a Low-Carbon Future,” guest lecture at the Summer Institute for K-12 and community college teachers, organized by the Office of Resources for International and Area Studies, UC Berkeley, 2025.
     •  “The Politics of China’s Just Transition,” guest seminar to master’s students in the course Chinese Politics and Climate Change, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, 2024.
     •  “Process Tracing,” guest lecture to undergraduate students in the course Qualitative Research, Middlebury College, 2024.
     •  “Governing Climate Change in Cities,” guest lecture to undergraduate students in the course Built Environments, Pitzer College, 2023.
     •  “China and the Paris Agreement,” guest lecture to the graduate course Introduction to Politics, Technology, and Society, Technical University of Munich, 2021.
     •  “Dissertation Writing Process,” guest lecture to the graduate course Dissertation Writing, School of Marxism, Peking University, 2019。

​Syllabi Available For Review

     •  Introduction to Comparative Environmental and Climate Politics 
     •  Climate Policymaking
     •  Social Dimensions of Climate Change
     •  ​Politics and Policies of China’s Low-Carbon Energy Transitions (designed for Harvard Summer School 2024)

Mentorship

Mentorship program, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, Fall 2025