Wei Li's foci of research are urban ethnicity and ethnic geography, highly-skilled international migration and transnational connections, financial sector and minority community development, focusing on the Chinese and other Asian groups in the Pacific Rim. She coined the term "ethnoburb" to describe a new form of contemporary suburban Asian settlements, and continues her empirical studies in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Metropolitan Phoenix, Toronto, and Vancouver, Canada.
Li's research has been funded by U.S. National Science Foundation, Canada-U.S. Fulbright Foundation, the Government of Canada, and the U.S.-India Educational Foundation, including projects analyzing financial institutions and immigrant community developmentin Canada and the United States, studying the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on African American and Vietnamese American communities in New Orleans East; and highly-skilled international migration.
She is the author of "Ethnoburb: The New Ethnic Community in Urban America" (2009; paperback 2012; The 2009 Book Award in Social Sciences, Association for Asian American Studies); editor of "From Urban Enclave to Ethnic Suburb: New Asian Communities in Pacific Rim Countries" (2006); co-editor of "Landscape of Ethnic Economy" (2006), "Immigrant Geographies of North American Cities" (2012), and "The Housing and Economic Experiences of Immigrants in North American Cities" (2015); and co-editor of two journal theme issues. She has published more than 90 journal articles and book chapters, including those in journals such as Annals of Association of American Geographers; Environment and Planning A; GeoForum; Geographic Review; Urban Studies; Urban Geography; Social Science Research, and Journal of Asian American Studies. Li has received numerous awards, including the 2014 AAG Ronald F. Abler Distinguished Service Honors (one of the highest honors conferred by Association of American Geographers/AAG), and the AAG Ethnic Geography Specialty Group's Distinguished Ethnic Geography CAREER Award and 2012 Distinguished Scholar.
She was appointed to three terms as a member of the U.S. Census Bureau's Race and Ethnic Advisory Committees (REAC) on the Asian Population by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, serves as its elected chair (2010-2012) and vice chair annually 2004-2009, and was one the inaugural members of the Bureau's new National Advisory Committee of Race, Ethnic, and Other Populations. She serves as the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship in Queen's University, Canada (2006-2007) and a Senior Fulbright Scholar to India (2016-2017); a member of the inaugural class of the National Asia Research Associates with the National Bureau of Asian Research and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2010-2011); and the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Writing Residency (2014). She is a member of the International Steering Committee of the International Metropolis Project, and the North American director for the International Society of Studying Chinese Overseas.
Immigration and integration, geography of race/ethnicity, comparative urban ethnicity, Asian American community development, ethnic finance, highly-skilled international migration and transnational connections.
Spring 2022 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
APA 200 | Intro/Asian Pacif Amer Studies |
GPH 692 | Research |
GCU 692 | Research |
GCU 799 | Dissertation |
Fall 2021 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
APA 200 | Intro/Asian Pacif Amer Studies |
APA 360 | Asian Pacific Amer Experience |
GCU 493 | Honors Thesis |
GCU 591 | Seminar |
GCU 799 | Dissertation |
Spring 2021 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
APA 493 | Honors Thesis |
GCU 493 | Honors Thesis |
GPH 692 | Research |
GCU 692 | Research |
GCU 799 | Dissertation |
Fall 2020 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
APA 200 | Intro/Asian Pacif Amer Studies |
APA 450 | Asian Pacific Amer Contemp Iss |
GCU 492 | Honors Directed Study |
GCU 493 | Honors Thesis |
APA 499 | Individualized Instruction |
GCU 515 | Human Migration |
GCU 692 | Research |
GCU 799 | Dissertation |
Spring 2020 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
APA 493 | Honors Thesis |
APA 499 | Individualized Instruction |
GCU 799 | Dissertation |
Fall 2019 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
APA 200 | Intro/Asian Pacif Amer Studies |
APA 360 | Asian Pacific Amer Experience |
APA 492 | Honors Directed Study |
APA 493 | Honors Thesis |
APA 498 | Pro-Seminar |
APA 499 | Individualized Instruction |
GCU 591 | Seminar |
GCU 692 | Research |
GCU 799 | Dissertation |
Spring 2019 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
APA 492 | Honors Directed Study |
APA 493 | Honors Thesis |
APA 498 | Pro-Seminar |
APA 499 | Individualized Instruction |
Fall 2018 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
APA 200 | Intro/Asian Pacif Amer Studies |
APA 360 | Asian Pacific Amer Experience |
APA 492 | Honors Directed Study |
APA 493 | Honors Thesis |
APA 498 | Pro-Seminar |
APA 499 | Individualized Instruction |
GCU 515 | Human Migration |
GCU 692 | Research |
GCU 799 | Dissertation |
Spring 2018 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
APA 492 | Honors Directed Study |
APA 493 | Honors Thesis |
APA 498 | Pro-Seminar |
APA 499 | Individualized Instruction |
GCU 795 | Continuing Registration |
PUP 799 | Dissertation |
GCU 799 | Dissertation |
Fall 2017 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
APA 360 | Asian Pacific Amer Experience |
APA 450 | Asian Pacific Amer Contemp Iss |
APA 492 | Honors Directed Study |
GCU 492 | Honors Directed Study |
APA 493 | Honors Thesis |
APA 498 | Pro-Seminar |
APA 499 | Individualized Instruction |
GCU 591 | Seminar |
GCU 799 | Dissertation |
2014 - AAG Ronald F. Abler Distinguished Service Honors, Association of American Geographers (AAG)
2014 - Writing Residency Fellow, Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center
2012 - Distinguished Ethnic Geography CAREER Award, and Distinguished Scholar of Ethnic Geography; Ethnic Geography Specialty Group, Association of American Geographers
2011-12 - IHR fellow, Institution of Humanity Research, ASU
2011- Book Award in Social Sciences, Association for Asian American Studies, for Ethnoburb: The New Ethnic Community in Urban America, 2009
2010 - National Asia Research Associate, The National Bureau of Asian Research and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
1999 - Nystrom Dissertation Award, Association of American Geographers
1997 - Member, Phi Kappa Phi All University Honor Society