2025 Yale US-China Forum

Register

The 11th Annual Yale US-China Forum
Sunday, March 30, 2025 | All-Day Event

Since the establishment of U.S.-China diplomatic relations in 1979, bilateral ties have evolved dynamically, marked by both collaboration and competition. As the 47th U.S. presidential election concludes, a new phase of Sino-American relations emerges, presenting fresh challenges and opportunities for global dynamics. Originally launched in 2011, Yale US-China Forum remains committed to fostering mutual prosperity through U.S.-China collaboration. It convenes hundreds of global academic leaders and industry pioneers to cultivate a multidimensional platform for non-governmental dialogue.

Hosted concurrently at the Yale University Science Building (main venue) and the Yale Center Beijing (satellite venue), this year's Forum embraces the theme "Gathering on the Shore: The Bridge to the Future". The event will convene distinguished representatives from academia, government, business, technology, and cultural sectors to engage in cross-disciplinary dialogues on critical topics including:

Business & Investment Panel:
“Coopetition and Game Theory: The Evolution and Future of Sino-U.S. Business Ecosystems in a New Landscape”

International Affairs Panel:
“Charting the Future of U.S.-China Relations: Navigating Cooperation Under a New Presidency Era”

Healthcare Panel:
“Technology Empowerment and Policy Coordination: Shaping a New Landscape for Nucleic Acid Technology, Aging Societies, and Healthcare Investment”

Energy Transition & Climate Change Panel:
"Energy Transition & Climate Change: U.S.-China Challenges and Opportunities"

AI Panel:
"The Present and Future of AI: U.S.-China Competition and Cooperation"

Food Panel:
"Status of Chinese Cuisine in the US: Historical Perception and Modern Evolution in the Post-Covid Era"

Philosophy Panel:
"The Clash of Philosophical Traditions in Challenging Times: Navigating the Intersections of Eastern, Western, and Critical Perspectives in US–China Relations"
 

Through these discussions, the summit aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the evolving U.S.-China relationship while exploring insights into prospects, challenges, and opportunities in bilateral collaboration.

Agenda

 

9:00-9:30 AM Registration

9:30-9:50 AM Welcome Address

9:50-10:50 AM Keynote Speeches

10:50-11:00 AM Tea Break

11:00 AM-12:30 PM Business+International Relations Panel

12:30-13:00 PM Lunch Break

13:00-13:30 PM Fireside Chat

13:45-15:15 PM Healthcare+Climate Change & Energy Transition Panel

15:15-15:30 PM Tea Break

15:30-17:00 PM AI+Food Panel

17:00-17:15 PM Tea Break

17:15-19:30 PM Philosophy Panel

19:30-20:00 PM Closing Remarks

Lunch, dinner, and refreshments provided at New Haven venue.

 

Tickets

 

Access the official ticket portal via the provided link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-yale-us-china-forum-tickets-1261818255369?aff=oddtdtcreator

After purchasing your ticket, please promptly fill out the mandatory registration form to optimize your forum experience:

https://forms.gle/paw2KD8HC37ZLFEY6
 

2025 Yale US-China Forum Ticket Options

Early Bird Pricing (end at March 23rd)

🎟️ General Early Bird: $65 (Originally $100)

🎟️ Yale Student Early Bird: $25 (Originally $40)

🎟️ Student/Yale Alumni Early Bird: $40 (Originally $70)
 

Important Notes

Student tickets require registration with a valid school email address and presentation of campus ID for check-in.

Incorrect ticket tier purchases will not be refunded or granted entry. Please verify your eligibility before purchasing.

Contribution Opportunities

Personal donations are welcomed! Qualified contributors (subject to resume review) may secure exclusive opportunities to dine with distinguished guests.

Contact WeChat ID: When-Yi (note: Summit Donation/Guest Dinner) or email acssy@yale.edu for details.

Speakers

 

Welcome Address

 

Michael C. Crair: Vice Provost for Research, Professor in the Department of Neuroscience, Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Science at Yale University

Dr. Michael Crair is Vice Provost for Research and the William Ziegler III Professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology & Visual Science. As Vice Provost for Research, he has University-wide oversight over research strategy, planning, policies, infrastructure and facilities, technology transfer and engagement with public and private sponsors of research. He works to encourage and broadly support research at Yale, innovative interdisciplinary scholarship, entrepreneurship, innovation, and enable groundbreaking discoveries across all schools and departments at the university. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind, Inc. and the Dan Lewis Foundation for Brain Regeneration Research.

Siddharth Chatterjee: UN Resident Coordinator in China

Graduated from the National Defense Academy of India, Qide Chang holds a master's degree in public policy from Princeton University in the United States.

Before joining the United Nations in 1997, he served in the Indian Special Forces. He has served as the UN Development Program and UNFPA Representative in Kenya, the UN Office for Project Services Regional Representative for the Middle East and Europe, and the Director of the Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. He has also held leadership positions in the UNICEF offices in Indonesia, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, and worked in the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Justin Elicker: Mayor of New Haven

Justin M. Elicker is the 51^st elected mayor of New Haven and committed to building a city where every New Haven resident has the opportunity to thrive.

A lifelong public servant, prior to being elected mayor, Elicker served on the New Haven Board of Alders, as executive director of the New Haven Land Trust, in the U.S. Foreign Services, and as a teacher for elementary and high school students and an adjunct professor of education policy at Southern Connecticut State University.

 

Keynote Speeches

 

Tian Xu: Vice President of Westlake University, former C.N.H. LONG Professor of Genetics and Vice Chairman of the Department of Genetics at Yale University

Prof. Tian Xu received his B.S. degree from Fudan University in 1982 and Ph.D. degree from Yale University in 1990. From 1993 to 2018, he was an Assistant Professor, Associate Professor (tenured in 2001), C.N.H. LONG Professor of Genetics, the Vice Chairman of the Department of Genetics at Yale University, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Prof. Tian Xu has a special passion for education and actively promotes exchanges between China and the United States. He has long served as an advisor on China affairs to the Yale president. He has promoted the re-establishment of close and friendly relations between Yale and China, setting an example for communications between the American science and technology education community and China. He has facilitated and participated in various exchanges and cooperation between Yale and China, including the University Presidents Seminar, President Hu Jintao's visit to Yale, and the Yale 100-person visit to China.

Holden Thorp: Editor-in-Chief of the Science family of journals, 10th Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Holden Thorp became Editor-in-Chief of the Science family of journals on 28 October 2019. He came to Science from Washington University, where he was provost from 2013 to 2019 and professor from 2013 to 2023. Dr. Holden Thorp joined Washington University after spending three decades at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), where he served as the 10th chancellor from 2008 through 2013. Dr. Holden Thorp earned a Bachelor of Science degree from UNC, a doctorate in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and completed postdoctoral work at Yale University. He holds honorary degrees from Hofstra University and North Carolina Wesleyan College and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Xuezheng Zhang: Chairman and CEO of Nexperia BV

Mr. Xuezheng Zhang is the Chairman and CEO of Nexperia. He leads the executive management team to guide the company's development and maintain its leading market position. Nexperia is a global semiconductor company headquartered in the Netherlands with a rich and long history of development in Europe, currently with more than 14,000 employees worldwide. As a leader in the development and production of basic semiconductor devices, Nexperia serves customers around the world and ships more than 100 billion products each year. These products have become industry benchmarks in terms of efficiency (such as process, size, power and performance) and are widely recognized. Nexperia's devices are widely used in multiple applications such as automotive, industrial, mobile and consumer, supporting the basic functions of almost all electronic designs in the world.

 

Fireside Chat

 

Robin Ren: Former Tesla Vice President, Founder and Executive Director of Carbonology

Robin worked at Tesla from 2015 to 2020, where he held various leadership positions including Vice President of Asia Pacific, Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Vice President of Business Development. Robin and his wife Linda established a family foundation in 2020, focusing on philanthropic work in sustainable environment, education and health research. Robin founded Carbonology in 2024, focusing on commercialization of CO2 direct air capture (DAC) and synthesis into sustainable products on a large scale. Robin has dual bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and physics from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University.  He currently serves on the Penn Arts and Sciences Advisory Board, Penn Engineering Technical Advisory Board, and Penn Undergraduate Financial Aid Leadership Council.

Cary Krosinsky: Co-founder of Sustainable Finance Institute,  Lecturer at Yale College

Cary Krosinsky is a leading educator, author and advisor on sustainable finance, teaching courses at institutions including Brown, Harvard, NYU and Yale. As member of the NY State Common Decarbonization Advisory Panel, he helped form the fund’s June 2019 Climate Action Plan, now actively implementing his suggestion of minimum standards and increasing their sustainable investments to $40B, as part of his regularly advising and convening asset owners. His most recent, 7th book, Modern China, calls for better relations between China and the West for the sake of solving sustainability challenges together, produced with the Sustainable Finance Institute (SFI) where he is co-founder and President. He is author/co-author of over 40 publications on the intersection of finance, capital and the low carbon transition, is co-founder of the Sustainable Finance Institute, Real Impact Tracker and the Carbon Tracker Initiative and advises independently, most recently for Robeco and the US Department of Energy.
 

Closing Remarks

Zhiwu Chen：Chair and Cheng Yu-Tung Professor in Finance at the University of Hong Kong

Professor Zhiwu Chen is Chair and Cheng Yu-Tung Professor in Finance at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Professor Chen currently serves as director of both Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (HKIHSS) and Centre for Quantitative History (CQH). His research covers finance theory, the sociology of finance, economic history, quantitative history, emerging markets, as well as China’s economy and capital markets. Professor Chen was a former Professor of Finance at Yale University (1999-2017) and a Special-Term Visiting Professor at Peking University (School of Economics) and Tsinghua University (School of Social Sciences).

Professor Chen started his career by publishing research papers in top economics and finance journals on topics related to financial markets and theories of asset pricing. Around 2001, he began to expand research beyond mature markets by investigating market development and institution-building issues in the context of China’s transition process and other emerging markets. He successfully led efforts to construct historical financial and social databases from China’s historical archives and has written on economic/social history topics. In 2013, he started the annual Summer School for Quantitative History cum International Symposium on Quantitative History at Tsinghua University and continues to organize them at Peking University, with the goal of promoting quantitative historical research in China and beyond. In 2022, Professor Chen’s Quantitative History of China project was awarded HK$67.32 million (over US$8.5 million) under the Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme, marking a new record high for government funding raised for the HKU Business School since its establishment.

Professor Chen received his PhD in financial economics from Yale University in 1990; MS in systems engineering from Changsha Institute of Technology in 1986; and BS in computer science from Central-South University in 1983. He was Assistant Professor of Finance at University of Wisconsin – Madison (1990-95); Associate Professor of Finance at Ohio State University (1995-99); and Professor of Finance at Yale University. He has been an endowed professor since joining HKU in July 2016. In July 2019, Professor Chen was conferred the title of Chair Professor of Finance in recognition of his contribution to finance.

 

 

Roundtable Forum

 

Business & Investment Forum

 

Wang Lei : FreesFund Partner

Wang Lei focuses on healthcare and life sciences investments, she led and participated in the investment of Singleron Biotechnologies, COYOTE, Pyrotech, Naxions, Leomed, Deepkinase, and Novita. Prior to joining FreeS, Lei had over 10 years of experience in management consulting for US and multinational biopharmaceutical companies, commercialization for pharmaceutical and diagnostics enterprises, as well as being a partner for start-up companies.
Lei obtained her PhD from university of Notre Dame and MBA from Boston university focusing on healthcare management. From 2022 to 2024, she was consecutively named one of the "S50 Female Investors" by Qingke Venture. In 2023-2024, she was recognized as one of the "Top 20 Most Promising Female Direct Investment Fund Investors" by the Mother Fund Research Center.

David Yin : Partner at GSR Ventures

David Yin is a partner at GSR Ventures (global $3.7bn venture fund), focusing on investing in AI and fintech startups. Working across US, China & Southeast Asia, David was a former Forbes journalist, McKinsey consultant, and strategy director of a fintech AI unicorn. He graduated from Yale (BA), Harvard (MPA) & Stanford (MBA).

Zhuo Xu: Founder and Chairman of Damon Technology Group Co., Ltd.

Mr. Zhuo Xu, MBA from Wuhan University, EMBA from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Senior Economist. As a pioneer in China's logistics automation industry, Mr. Zhuo founded Damon Technology Group Co., Ltd. in 1997. With his excellent strategic vision and innovative spirit, he has led Damon Technology to make continuous breakthroughs in the field of intelligent logistics, and has now developed into a scientific and technological innovation enterprise with an industry chain ranging from core components, key equipments, software development and system integration, which has been honored as a National Specialized New Giant Enterprise, National Single Champion, National Green Factory, National High-tech Enterprise, and National Intellectual Property Model Enterprise, etc. At the same time, the company has a national post-doctoral workstation and provincial-level academician expert workstation.

Jingjing Chai : Taihill Venture Partner

Jingjing Chai is a General Partner who previously served as a Controller at NorthBridge Partners, was Co-President of MIT-CHIEF, and held the position of Vice Secretary General of the Chinese Culture Promotion Society – Media Lab. She earned an ALM in Finance from Harvard University and a BS in Management from Nanjing University, reflecting her strong academic background. For further inquiries, she can be reached at jc@taihill.vc.

Qilong Xin: Co-Chair of Yale Biotechnology Association, Co-Founder of ETERNITY MIND

Mr. Xin received his B.A. in Neuroscience from Harvard University in 2020 and is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program in the Department of Neuroscience at Yale University. He is the founder of Eternity Mind Inc. and currently serves as the Co-Chairman of the Yale Biotechnology Association. He is also the President of the Macau Sleep Health Association. Previously, he served as co-chair of the 2019-2020 Harvard China Forum.
 

International Relations Forum

  
Stephen Roach : Senior Fellow in  Yale  Paul Tsai China Center; Former Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and the firm’s Chief Economist

Stephen Roach served as a Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute of Global Affairs for 13 years beginning in 2010 and as a Senior Lecturer at Yale’s School of Management. In fall 2022, Roach joined Yale Law School's Paul Tsai Center China Center as a Senior Fellow.

Before coming to Yale, he was Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and the firm’s Chief Economist for the bulk of his 30-year career at Morgan Stanley, heading up a highly regarded team of economists around the world. His research covers globalization, trade policy, post-financial crisis policy frameworks and the impact of global imbalances on capital markets. He has long been regarded as one of the most influential economists on Wall Street, and his views influence policy discussions from Beijing to Washington.

Susan Thornton: Senior Fellow in Paul Tsai China Center; Former Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State

Susan A. Thornton is a retired senior U.S. diplomat with almost three decades of experience with the U.S. State Department in Eurasia and East Asia. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer in Law and Senior Fellow at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center. She is also the director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Until July 2018, Thornton was Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State and led East Asia policymaking amid crises with North Korea, escalating trade tensions with China, and a fast-changing international environment. In previous State Department roles, she worked on U.S. policy toward China, Korea and the former Soviet Union and served in leadership positions at U.S. embassies in Central Asia, Russia, the Caucasus and China.

Thornton received her M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and her B.A. from Bowdoin College in Economics and Russian. She serves on several nonprofit boards and speaks Mandarin and Russian.

David Firestein: President and CEO of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations

David Firestein is the inaugural president and CEO of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations and a founding and current member of its Board of Directors.  Previously, Firestein served as a U.S. diplomat, think tank executive and member of the graduate faculty of LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.  Over the course of his decorated 30-year career in international affairs and foreign policy, Firestein has specialized principally in China and U.S.-China relations; he has also worked extensively on Russia and U.S.-Russia relations.  He has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels in both areas.  Firestein is a near-native speaker of Chinese and highly proficient speaker of Russian; early on in his career, he interpreted for scores of top-level U.S. and Chinese officials.  Firestein currently serves on the boards of directors or advisors of about a dozen nonprofit entities spanning a wide range of issue areas.  The author or co-author of three books, including two China-published Chinese-language bestsellers, and over 150 articles published in major U.S., Chinese and Russian periodicals, Firestein is a prolific producer of thought leadership on the topic of U.S.-China relations, a sought-after public speaker, and an advisor to a number of major U.S.-based investment groups.  Firestein is a native and current resident of Austin, Texas; he holds degrees from Georgetown University and The University of Texas at Austin.

Gary (Guoliang) Yu：President of New England Chinese American Alliance (NECAA),Co-founder and president of Liepin Overseas

Founder and Chairman of Boston International Media Consulting and Boston Chinese Radio and Television

Gary Yu, Founder and Chair of Boston International Media Consulting and Boston Chinese Radio and TV.

He transitioned from a successful career in business to public service and currently holds several roles, including Vice Chairman of Commissioner of the Massachusetts Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Commission, Asian Community Liaison Officer at the Massachusetts Auditor’s Office, and member of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office Community and Grants Committee.

Beyond his professional work, he is deeply committed to community service. He serves as Chairman of the New England Chinese American Alliance (NECAA), President of the Boston Chapter of the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs (APAPA), and President of the Massachusetts Chapter of the United Chinese Americans (UCA). He has received numerous honors from federal, state, and local governments for his outstanding contributions, including the 2023 “Diversity and Inclusion Award” presented by U.S. Senator Ed Markey.

Recognizing the need for greater civic engagement among Chinese Americans, he joined Michelle Wu’s 2020 Boston mayoral campaign as the Chief Liaison to the Chinese Community, contributing to Wu’s successful election as Boston’s mayor. He later held significant roles in the campaign teams of various Massachusetts officials.

Catherine Feng：Yale MBA ’09, Senior Vice President at Bank of China USA

Ms. Feng Yuhui graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University in 1993 and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a diplomat, serving for over a decade. During her diplomatic tenure, she held significant positions including spokesperson for the Chinese Consulate General in New York and participated in multiple major international diplomatic engagements. After obtaining an MBA from Yale School of Management in 2009, she joined PPG Industries, Inc. as Director of Government Affairs and Business Development for the Asia-Pacific Region. From 2010 to 2015, Ms. Feng served as the China Representative of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), overseeing business development in China and Asia. She played a key role in facilitating the NYSE listings of prominent companies, including Alibaba Group. Between 2015 and 2017, she returned to Yale School of Management as Associate Director of the Career Development Office, managing international operations. In 2017, she joined Bank of China as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Business Development, responsible for public relations and brand promotion initiatives. An accomplished professional with extensive experience in diplomacy and corporate management, Ms. Feng has also translated several English novels into Chinese, further demonstrating her cross-cultural expertise.

Zongyuan Zoe Liu：Maurice R. Greenberg senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

Zongyuan Zoe Liu is Maurice R. Greenberg senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Her work focuses on international political economy, global financial markets, sovereign wealth funds, supply chains of critical minerals, development finance, emerging markets, energy and climate change policy, and East Asia-Middle East relations. Dr. Liu’s regional expertise is in East Asia, specifically China and Japan, and the Middle East, specifically Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Dr. Liu is the author of Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System? (Cambridge University Press) and Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions (Harvard University Press).

Prior to joining CFR, Dr. Liu was an instructional assistant professor at Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, DC, where she taught courses on global economy, economic statecraft, and Chinese foreign policy. She joined the Bush School after post-doctoral fellowships at the Columbia-Harvard “China and the World Program” and the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Healthcare Forum

 

William Jorgensen：Sterling Professor of Chemistry at Yale University；Director, Division of Physical Sciences & Engineering at Yale University

Dr. William Jorgensen, Sterling Professor at Yale University—the institution's highest academic honor recognizing faculty members of extraordinary scholarly distinction—is a pioneering figure in Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD). His seminal contributions include the development of the OPLS force field, the TIP3P water model, and groundbreaking advancements in applying Free Energy Perturbation (FEP) methodologies to pharmaceutical research, profoundly shaping organic chemistry and drug discovery.

Currently, his research targets fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) kinase inhibitors, a therapeutic focus area critically linked to breast cancer, adenocarcinoma, astrocytoma, and other malignancies. His laboratory designs enzyme inhibitors capable of selectively binding to enzymes driving abnormal cellular proliferation, thereby impeding tumor growth and promoting tumor regression.

Dr. Jorgensen earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Joining Yale's faculty in 1990, he has since held continuous appointments while maintaining active engagement in both academic innovation and translational biomedical research. His career exemplifies interdisciplinary excellence bridging computational chemistry, molecular modeling, and oncology therapeutics.

Changchun Xiao: Head of China Research and Founding Director of Sanofi Institute for Biomedical Research (SIBR), Sanofi

Dr. Changchun Xiao joined Sanofi from academia in February 2021, assuming the role of Head of China Research.  He built from scratch Sanofi Institute for Biomedical Research (SIBR) in Suzhou, focusing on target identification and drug discovery in the therapeutic areas of immunology, inflammation, and oncology. Prior to joining Sanofi, he was an Associate Professor in The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) Department of Immunology and Microbiology and a Professor at Xiamen University School of Life Sciences. He graduated from Tsinghua University Department of Biology with a bachelor's degree. He was trained as a PhD student with Sankar Ghosh at Yale Immunobiology and as a postdoc with Klaus Rajewsky at Harvard Medical School. In 2008, he joined the faculty of TSRI, where he began his independent research career. His made seminal discoveries regarding the functions and mechanisms of microRNAs, RNA-binding proteins, and translational control in the immune system, in the context of lymphocyte development and differentiation, autoimmune diseases, and lymphoma. He has published more than 60 articles in high-impact journals including Cell, Science, and Nature Immunology, which have been cited over 11,000 times in total. He has served on the editorial board of Molecular and Cellular Biology and was awarded Cancer Research Institute postdoctoral fellowship, Cancer Research Institute Investigator Award, and Pew Scholar.

Kate Zhang: Chief Scientific Officer at Hopewell Therapeutics; Venture partner of Tailwinds Ventures and  Northern Light Venture Capital

Dr. Xiaokui Zhang is the Chief Scientific Officer of Hopewell Therapeutics and a venture partner at Tailwinds Ventures and Northern Light Venture Capital. She has over 25 years of drug development experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Previously, she served as Vice President of Biological Development at Editas Medicine, leading the development of CRISPR-based gene editing therapies and successfully advancing multiple IND applications. Prior to that, she was responsible for global translational science and rare disease drug development at Genzyme and Sanofi, contributing to the development of multiple marketed drugs. Dr. Zhang earned her bachelor's degree from Tsinghua University, a master's degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Ph.D. from Queen’s University in Canada. She completed her postdoctoral research at the NIH.

Jiangbing Zhou: Nixdorff-German Professor of Neurosurgery at Yale University

Dr. Jiangbing Zhou is the Nixdorff-German Professor of Neurosurgery and Biomedical

Engineering at the Yale School of Medicine. He received a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from East China University of Science and Technology, a master’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Tsinghua University, and a PhD in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Zhou is a leading expert in developing technologies for drug delivery to the brain and non-viral gene delivery, and applying these technologies to treat neurological diseases. His research has led to several ongoing clinical translation efforts involving the use of antibodies and non-viral gene delivery systems for the treatment of cancer and genetic diseases. Dr. Zhou has published over 80 research articles, received numerous grants and awards, and co-founded start-up companies that facilitate clinical translation. He has served on various review panels for funding agencies and expert panels for the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Zhou is an elected Fellow of the American Heart Association (AHA), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

Mark Schlesinger : Professor at Yale School of Public Health (Health Policy); Affiliated Professor at Yale Institute for Global Health

Dr. Schlesinger is Professor of Health Policy and a fellow of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University and past editor of the Journal of Health Policy, Politics and Law. Dr. Schlesinger’s research explores the determinants of public opinion about health and social policy, the influence of bounded rationality on medical consumers, the role of nonprofit organizations in American medicine. His recent research initiatives include studying how the changing availability of information on clinicians’ practices alters patients’ choices among doctors, assessing public perceptions of and responses to economic insecurity, explaining the recent rapid expansion in the scope of newborn screening among American states, and understanding why particular collective responses are seen as more or less legitimate for addressing the spread of obesity among Americans. He has consulted to a half dozen federal agencies, several dozen state and local governments, and more than a score of nonprofit organizations concerned with health and social policy. His favored sports include uncompetitive volleyball and unlighted table tennis.

Daozhan Yu: Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AAVnerGene

Dr. Yu Daozhan is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AAVnerGene, a company dedicated to technological innovation and industrial applications in the field of gene therapy. With extensive academic expertise and practical experience, Dr. Yu has focused on enhancing the efficiency and precision of adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies. Under his leadership, the research team has achieved groundbreaking progress in optimizing AAV production and delivery systems, providing critical solutions to challenges in delivery efficiency and tissue specificity. His work not only advances the development of gene therapy technologies but also establishes a robust foundation for future personalized treatments and broader clinical applications. Dr. Yu's contributions include pioneering novel production platforms that significantly streamline manufacturing processes and reduce costs, thereby improving accessibility to gene therapies.

Energy & Climate Forum

 

Chengxi Li: President of the Americas ESS at Xiamen Ampace Technology Limited

Mr. Li Bingxi currently serves as President of the Energy Storage Division for the Americas at Xiamen Xinneng'an Technology Co., Ltd. He previously held executive leadership roles including President for the Americas at Longi Green Energy Technology, Global Chief Commercial Officer at Smoore International, and President of North America at ZTE Corporation. With over two decades of leadership experience, Mr. Li embodies an innovative and agile entrepreneurial spirit, coupled with a strong sense of ownership and results-driven management approach. He has consistently led cross-functional teams to achieve well-defined business objectives while maintaining a steadfast commitment to delivering high-quality products and services to clients across the Americas.

Ken Gillingham：Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs; Professor of Environmental & Energy Economics of Yale University

Professor Gillingham is the Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the Yale School of the Environment and a professor of economics at Yale. He is also a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. In 2015-2016, he served as the Senior Economist for Energy and the Environment at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He is an energy and environmental economist drawing from the fields of applied microeconomics, behavioral economics, industrial organization, and integrated assessment modeling of climate change.

Zheng Yi: Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University, Founder of Planck Energies

Professor Zheng Yi specializes in sustainable energy and clean technology, currently serving as Director of the Nano Energy Laboratory and Founder of Planck Energies, a clean-tech startup. Holding a Ph.D. and M.S. from Columbia University and a B.S. from Tsinghua University, he has authored over 90 peer-reviewed journal articles and filed nine patents. His research, addressing climate change and global shortages in energy and water resources, has garnered over $4 million in funding from agencies including the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), NASA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Air Force. Recognized for his contributions, he is a Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and has received the NASA Glenn Faculty Fellowship, ASTFE Early Career Researcher Award, and NSF CAREER Award.

Dong Ning: Chief Expert of Blockchain, China Mobile Research Institute

Mr. Dong Ning currently serves as the Chief Blockchain Expert at the China Mobile Research Institute, holding concurrent positions as a member of the Professional Committee of the China Computer Federation, Deputy Secretary-General of the Blockchain Working Committee under the China Internet Association, and Expert Committee Member of the National Alliance for Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Innovation in Universities. With a distinguished career spanning technology leadership and academic research, he previously served as CEO of Zhilian Wanyuan Digital Technology Co., Ltd., Director of the Financial Technology Center at Peking University's Institute of Next-Generation Information Technology, Chief IT Economics Advisor for IBM Asia-Pacific, and Technical Ambassador for the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger Project.

In recent years, Mr. Dong has focused on advancing digital intelligence solutions for carbon neutrality and developing trusted data ecosystems to support China's dual carbon objectives. His pioneering work includes spearheading the formulation of the "Computational Power Carbon Efficiency Trustworthy Evaluation Methodology" industry standard and leading multiple national-level research initiatives commissioned by governmental ministries. His research explores bidirectional interactions between artificial intelligence and energy/carbon efficiency optimization, driving innovative approaches to address climate challenges through technological convergence.

 

AI Development Forum

 

Bo Chen: Founder&CEO of AiWave Technology

As the former Director of AI Technology at WeChat, Bo Chen has over 13 years of hands-on experience in AI and internet development. Known for driving AI innovation, she holds multiple international patents and has a deep understanding of blending AI with social platforms. At WeChat, she led the development of popular features like Video Accounts, Intelligent Voice, and Music Recommendations, earning praise from billions of users. Recognized as a top expert by the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence (CAAI), she has now launched AiWave, a platform where AI and social interaction meet.

Tong Wang: Assistant Professor at Yale School of Management

Dr. Tong Wang received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Tong Wang’s research interests are in developing machine learning solutions for business problems. Her work focuses on creating novel interpretable models that can effectively represent and analyze structured and unstructured data, such as texts and images. The overarching objective of these interpretable models is to extract valuable insights from the data, empowering stakeholders to make well-informed decisions while also facilitating a clear understanding of the decision-making processes employed by the models. Her work on crime pattern detection has been included in Wikipedia Crime Analysis and gained media coverage. The ideas from her algorithm have been implemented by New York Police Department. Tong contributed to the development of an interpretable model for the FICO challenge in 2018, outperforming black-box machine learning models and earning the FICO Recognition Award.

Zhitao (Rex) Ying: Assistant Professor at Yale Department of Computer Science

Dr. Rex (Zhitao) Ying obtained his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2021 and joined the Department of Computer Science at Yale University as an Assistant Professor in 2022. Prior to his Ph.D., he graduated with the highest distinction from Duke University in 2016, majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics. Rex's research focuses on algorithms for graph neural networks, geometric embeddings, interpretable models, and multimodal foundation models involving relational reasoning.

Minghao (Michael) Guan: Co-Founder of Final Round AI

Michael Guan obtained his MBA from Yale University in 2023 and his Bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2020. In 2023, Michael co-founded Final Round AI and currently serves as the CEO, focusing on helping users secure their ideal jobs by providing tools like AI interview assistants.

Tiancheng Yu: Quantitative Researcher at Two Sigma

Dr. Tiancheng Yu obtained his Ph.D. in EECS from MIT in 2023, with research focused on provably robust reinforcement learning and near-optimal learning in sequential games. Prior to that, he earned his Bachelor's degree in Electronic Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2018. Dr. Yu is currently working as a quantitative researcher at a hedge fund in New York.
 

Food Forum

 

Paul Freedman: Chester D. Tripp Professor of History at Yale University

Dr. Paul Freedman is an American historian and medievalist who serves as the Chester D. Tripp Professor of History at Yale University​. He specializes in medieval social history—particularly the history of medieval Catalonia and peasant society—and has also conducted influential research on the history of food and cuisine​. Freedman’s work bridges these fields, including bestsellers like Ten Restaurants that Changed America.

Yong Zhao: Founder of Junzi Kitchen, Co-Founder of Nice Day Chinese, Co-President of China Institute Next Gen with Serica (CINGS)

Yong Zhao graduated from Peking University Yuanpei College and Yale University School of Environment (Master’s). While pursuing a doctorate at Yale, he founded the healthy Chinese fast-food brand "junzi kitchen", which was selected as one of the 20 most promising fast-food brands in 2019 by an authoritative American magazine.

Hellen Ran: Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Liuyishou North America Group

Hellen Ran, a highly esteemed Chinese-Canadian entrepreneur, currently serves as a Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Liuyishou North America Group. She joined the Liuyishou North America team in 2014 and founded Liuyishou North America Investment Management Company in 2015. Under her leadership, Liuyishou Hotpot and its two sub-brands have rapidly established a strong presence in major cities across both the East and West coasts of Canada and the United States.

As of December 2024, Liuyishou Hotpot has been thriving in North America, with 26 locations across the U.S. and Canada, as well as a locally operated base for hotpot seasoning production. Ms. Hellen Ran and her North American team are committed to collaborating with partners to create a remarkable chapter in the overseas Chinese cuisine market.

Yiming Wang: Co-owner and designer of New York Café China & Breeze

Yiming Wang co-owns and designed the restaurants Café China, Birds of a Feather, and China Blue. Café China and China Blue are trendsetting establishments, blending vintage Shanghai and Western aesthetics that transport diners back in time before it became fashionable to do so, while Birds of a Feather brings a contemporary elegance to classic Sichuanese flavors.

Café China has been awarded a Michelin star for seven years, and Birds of a Feather is a beloved local favorite. Yiming’s work has influenced the aesthetic and culinary direction of many Asian-themed restaurants globally. Her establishments have been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Vogue, Men’s Vogue Italy, and Harper’s Bazaar Japan.

Yiming holds a master’s degree in business and has transitioned from finance into hospitality, where she continues to shape the evolving narrative of Chinese entrepreneurship in the U.S.

Fangqi Duan: Founder of CHIHUO & Chairman of CBM

Fangqi Duan is the founder of CHIHUO, North America’s leading Chinese-language food media brand with 2M+ followers, and the initiator of Taste of Asia, the premier U.S.-China restaurant industry summit. Since 2018, the summit has brought together 1,000+ top restaurant brands and industry leaders to shape the future of Asian cuisine in North America.

As Chairman of CBM, Amy has 13+ years of experience empowering restaurant brands to expand into the North American market. She specializes in investment, site selection, team building, market research, operations, system integration, and marketing, helping brands successfully establish and scale their presence in the U.S.

Philosophy Forum

 

Slavoj Zizek: Slovenian Philosopher, Professor at the University of Ljubljan

Dr. Slavoj Žižek is a philosopher, cultural critic, and psychoanalyst known for his provocative and eclectic approach to contemporary thought. Drawing on Hegel, Marx, and Lacan, his work spans topics from ideology and capitalism to film and popular culture. A prolific writer and engaging public speaker, Žižek has published numerous books—including the influential The Sublime Object of Ideology—and has appeared in several documentaries such as The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema. He currently holds academic positions at institutions like the European Graduate School, the University of Ljubljana, and New York University, and he serves as the international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London.

Yanis Varoufakis: Greek Economist, Former Minister of Finance; Secretary-General of DiEM25

Dr. Yanis Varoufakis is a Greek economist, academic, and politician renowned for his outspoken critique of austerity and his advocacy for progressive economic reforms. He gained international prominence during his tenure as Greece’s Finance Minister, where he challenged the stringent conditions imposed by international lenders during the Greek debt crisis. Prior to entering politics, Dr. Varoufakis had an extensive academic career, teaching economics in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. He has authored numerous influential books on economics and global finance, and he is a co-founder of the transnational democracy movement DiEM25. Dr. Varoufakis continues to combine his roles as a public intellectual, academic, and political leader, engaging audiences worldwide with his unconventional insights on capitalism and the future of Europe.

Richard Wolff: American Marxian Economist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Dr. Richard Wolff is an American Marxian economist, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a leading public intellectual known for his accessible critiques of capitalism. He is the force behind the popular YouTube channel RichardDWolff and Democracy At Work which currently has around 900,000 subscribers. Wolff’s work champions alternative economic models centered on worker cooperatives and democratized workplaces. His political project is deeply rooted in classical Marxist and post‑Keynesian thought, drawing on the ideas of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and John Maynard Keynes, while also engaging with contemporary critiques of neoliberal capitalism and the global financial crisis. Through his books, lectures, and digital media, he continues to challenge mainstream economic paradigms and inspire debates on income inequality and the future of our economic system.

Robin Visser: Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Robin Visser is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her interdisciplinary research centers on modern Chinese and Sinophone literatures, urban cultural studies, and environmental humanities. Dr. Visser’s work critically examines the aesthetics and narratives shaping urban transformation in postsocialist China, as well as how eco-literary voices—especially those of indigenous communities—challenge dominant cultural and environmental paradigms. She is the author of influential books such as Cities Surround the Countryside: Urban Aesthetics in Postsocialist China and, most recently, Questioning Borders: Eco-Literatures in China and Taiwan (Columbia University Press, 2023), which together illuminate the dynamic interplay between urban space, literature, and environmental change in a rapidly globalizing world.

Pei Wang: Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Hong Kong and Distinguished Political Theorist

Dr. Pei Wang (汪沛) is an Assistant Professor at the School of Chinese, The University of Hong Kong, where she specializes in Chinese intellectual history, comparative philosophy, and Confucian studies. She earned her BA from Zhejiang University and her PhD from Tsinghua University, with further research conducted during her time at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Her work critically examines how traditional Confucian virtues, including emerging strands of Confucian feminism, are reinterpreted and morally justified in modern China. As the co-author (with Daniel A. Bell) of Just Hierarchy: Why Social Hierarchies Matter in China and the Rest of the World (Princeton University Press, 2020), Dr. Wang has elicited heated discussions in academia.

Jodi Dean: Professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Dr. Jodi Dean is an American political theorist and professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. A Princeton alumna with advanced degrees from Columbia University, Dean is best known for her influential work on communicative capitalism—a theory that examines how digital media and neoliberal forces reshape democratic discourse and political organization. Her extensive scholarship, which draws on Marxist, psychoanalytic, and poststructuralist traditions, is reflected in her many books, including Blog Theory, Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies, The Communist Horizon, Crowds and Party, and Comrade: An Essay on Political Belonging.

Robinson Erhardt: Stanford Philosophy PhD, Journalist, and Prominent YouTuber

Dr. Robinson Erhardt is a digital public intellectual and YouTuber who earned his PhD in Philosophy from Stanford University, specializing in the philosophy of mathematics. While his academic work is rigorous, Erhardt is best known for his dynamic interview series where he engages in deep, accessible conversations with leading thinkers, scholars, and cultural critics. His channel, which has amassed over 500,000 subscribers, focuses on unpacking contemporary debates in ethics, politics, and technology through thoughtful dialogue with over 200 world-renowned thinkers, like Jeffrey Sachs and Steven Pinker.

Yascha Mounk: Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, and Founder of Persuasion

Dr. Yascha Mounk is one of the most influential political scholars and social critics of the 21st century, globally renowned for his groundbreaking research on the crisis of liberal democracy, the rise of populism, and the integration of diverse societies. As a tenured Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and Senior Fellow at the think tank New America, he also founded and leads the digital magazine Persuasion, while his podcast "The Good Fight" has been hailed by The Guardian as "an intellectual feast for global thought leaders." His seminal work The People vs. Democracy (translated into 28 languages) was named a Book of the Year by The Economist and Financial Times, becoming required reading for policymakers worldwide. His 2023 bestseller The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure topped The New York Times bestseller list and was hailed by the Financial Times as "the most profound manifesto on pluralistic democracy since the Cold War."

 

Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at Yale | Website | View More Events

Yunan Mei - Chief Marketing Officer

Contact the organizers