I am an interdisciplinary researcher and educator at the intersection of Urban Studies, Ethnic Studies, Public Administration, and Public Policy. My research examines spatial politics, racialization, gentrification, (im)mobilities, and community formations in urban neighborhoods, with a particular emphasis in Asian Americans and immigrant communities in California. My scholarship centers the importance of place in politicizing and building a sense of belonging for racialized and marginalized groups. I am interested in the meanings of community power as local groups organize for their neighborhoods; how that power is articulated to the state and those outside of the community; and the implications of this power in addressing social inequities - both within and beyond their communities - and envisioning possibilities for just cities. Through my research, I aim to uplift the lived experiences and perspectives of local communities and non-elites so that they are a part of knowledge production and decision-making in both academia and public policy.

I currently am the Associate Director of the Asian American Research Center at Stanford University. I received my Ph.D. in Planning, Policy, and Design with an emphasis in Asian American Studies at University of California, Irvine. I also have an M.P.H. in Sociomedical Sciences (Urbanism & the Built Environment concentration) from Mailman School at Columbia University and a B.A. in Anthropology and Art History from University of California Los Angeles. I have held tenure-track/tenured faculty positions at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and San José State University. Along with my academic career, I have professional experience in policy advocacy, program management, and evaluation for health and social service services for unhoused and immigrant communities. I am a member of the Los Angeles Chinatown Community Land Trust and have served as a board member for the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California and Chinese American Citizens Alliance-Los Angeles Lodge. My education, professional experiences, and civic engagement, as well as my identity as a Chinese American woman whose family migration history in and out of California can be traced back to the early 20th Century, are integral to shaping my work as a researcher, writer, and educator.