Founded in 2021, we have attracted leading scholars and professionals across both sides of the Pacific and beyond.
Past/Current Members
Kevin Li
Shanghai, China
Kevin is currently a Master's in Public Policy student at Harvard Kennedy School. Previously, he was a climate strategy consultant at Deloitte and a coordination consultant at the United Nations in China. He obtained a degree in Environmental and Sustainability Sciences from Cornell University. During his free time, he enjoys a good cup of coffee and biking along the beautiful Shanghai riverside.
Tim Qi
Vancouver, Canada / Shanghai, China
Tim is currently pursuing a joint Master’s degree program in public policy and urban planning at xxx University. He was previously an architecture/urban designer at Perkins Eastman NYC, where he worked on large-scale, mixed-use projects advancing municipal policy goals across Northeastern US. Tim holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University.
Alex Li
New York, USA
Alex graduated from Tsinghua’s Schwarzman Scholars program in 2022. His background is primarily in climate technology. Previously, he worked as a consultant at McKinsey. During his undergraduate studies at Cornell, Alex founded Green Club to help students act on climate change. Alex is currently a technical program manager at Tesla.
Jenna Wichterman 魏君容
Oakton, Virginia, USA
Jenna is from Oakton, Virginia and studied Foreign Affairs and Philosophy at the University of Virginia. She received a Master's in International Conflict Management and International Economics from Johns Hopkins' SAIS program, where she co-founded the US-China Student Dialogue group. She is currently studying Global Affairs at Tsinghua University through the Schwarzman program.
Valentina Xu 许佳
Shenzhen, China/New York, USA
Jia (Valentina) Xu is a Structured Finance analyst at Goldman Sachs. She is the co-founder of Bridging Pacific, a nonprofit that provides resources and communities for first-generation Chinese immigrants in North America. Valentina aspires to pursue a career in development finance and bridge the financing gap for social entrepreneurs. Valentina graduated from Cornell University in 2022.
Will Cullen 顾平远
Washington DC, USA
Will graduated from the Schwarzman Scholars program last year and his currently work at the National Committee on US-China Relations focuses on climate change policy. Previously, Will worked at the World Resources Institute focusing on re development in India. In addition, he has interned at the US State Dept and US Senate and am very interested in pathways for climate cooperation despite political tensions between the two countries.
Cohort One
Yini Xu 徐旖旎
Chengdu, China
Yini studied Environmental Engineering in Cranfield University in the UK and currently working in SinoCarbon (Beijing) as a green finance specialist, where she mainly focuses on Carbon related consulting and ESG consulting.
Ava Waitz 卫蓝
Boston, USA
Ava is a Masters student at Tsinghua in Schwarzman Scholars program. She did her undergrad at MIT in Materials Science & Engineering researching solar technology, recycling, and vehicle/coal plant/natural gas associated emissions. Ava will be a PhD student at MIT particularly interested in renewable energy tech + circular economy development.
Lily Yu 于佳航
Beijing, China
Lily Yu is a PHD student in International Political Economy at Peking University. Her Research interests include geopolitical economy, sustainable development, globalization and GVC. Prior to PKU, Lily worked as a consultant at UNESCO liaison office in UN headquarters in New York and as a specialist at UNESCO-ICHEI in Shenzhen.
Shaun Yan 颜光辉
Singapore, Singapore
Shaun is currently an investment analyst at GIC (Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund) looking at investible themes. Previously, he worked at Blackstone real estate for 1/2 a year. Shaun graduated from Cornell and concentrated in finance, accounting, and real estate.
Karuna N. 聂予和
Karuna is from right outside Washington, D.C., and is currently at Tsinghua in Beijing in the Schwarzman program. she previously studied public policy and diplomacy at the University of Michigan, andis interested in US-China relations in general. She will be staying in Beijing next year to study intensive language.
Milan Vivanco 吴治彦
Milan is from Washington, DC and currently a Schwarzman Scholar. Milan studied Ethics, Politics, and Economics at Yale University. His current capstone at Schwarzman scholars in on US China methane emissions collaboration. As an undergrad, Milan worked as a research assistant for John Kerry.
Rong Bao 包瑢
Rong is a first-year Master of Environmental Management student at Yale School of the Environment, specializing in Environmental Policy and Climate Change. She is co-founder of 2030CLIMATE+, a self-started non-profit group in China that focuses on youth empowerment in climate actions and an incoming summer intern at the UNEP. Rng is a UNFCCC COP26 participant - NGO observer.
Lucio Milanese
Lucio Milanese is a Doctoral student in the Nuclear Science and Engineering department. His research work is focused on improving our fundamental understanding of turbulence in fusion and astrophysical plasmas. Outside of his interest in science, he is passionate about history, politics and economics. Lucio was selected as a 2022 Schwarzman Scholar.
Zhou YU 虞宙
Zhou YU currently works in Sinocarbon, a carbon-related consulting firm. He is also the senior scholar for Schwarzman college for the class of 2022. Yu Zhou has previously worked for UNDP and Energy Foundation.
Mikaela Yuchen Wang 汪宇辰
Yuchen is a recent graduate from the Tsinghua University & Johns Hopkins SAIS Dual-Degree master’s program, during which she studied international environmental studies and finance. She is currently a member of the 7th cohort of Schwarzman Scholars, beginning in Sep. 2022. Her passion for marine sustainability led her onboard a cross-equatorial sail for oceanographic field research on coral reef ecosystems and the impacts of El Niño events on sea surface temperatures and salinity. Yuchen is a certified rescue diver.
Cohort Two
Kelly Wu 吴舒遥
Kelly Wu is an incoming Schwarzman 2023 scholar and a recent graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she earned her bachelor's in Chemical Engineering with a concentration in Computation for Energy. She is interested in the overlapping technical and social spheres of energy, in particular, to accelerate the clean energy transition in order to help mitigate climate change. She was a previous president of the MIT Energy & Climate Club.
Katie 李奕哲
Katie is currently enrolled in the Tsinghua-JHU SAIS dual degree program focusing on US-China relations. She majored in International Relations and Psychology during undergrad, and has previously worked at China Development Research Foundation, US-China Business Council, and the Ministry of Commerce.
Samson Cheng 程浩生
Samson attends Tsinghua University’s Global Environment Program. He is currently conducting a research project at UBC, Canada. Samson advocates for global environmental governance and collective climate actions. He also works for China’s Climate Negotiation Team to conduct international climate policy analyses for China-US negotiations and COPs.
Miranda Li 李洁琳
Miranda graduated from Columbia University in 2017 with a Bachelor in Computer Science and Economics-Philosophy, after which she worked as a consultant at BCG for 3 years focusing on climate and environment. Recently, Miranda graduated from Tsinghua with a Master’s in Global Affairs as a Schwarzman Scholar, where her research focused on China’s national park policy. She is currently working at Peking University’s Shanshui conservation center. Miranda enjoys hiking and the outdoors.
Sabrina Huang 黃玟伶
Sabrina is a recent graduate from Georgia Tech where she studied business and computing. Currently, she lives and works in Boulder, CO for Black Bear Energy, an owner's representative for institutional property owners and REITs that want to deploy onsite renewables across their portfolio. During her time at Georgia Tech, she interned twice at NCR, worked as a project consultant for Georgia-Pacific, and ran her own photography business. In her free time, Sabrina enjoys riding horses, hiking 14ers in CO, and learning about regenerative agriculture.
Sophy Wang 王越
Sophy just completed her study for MPA at Sciences Po in Paris and is heading for MBA at Harvard Business School in Boston starting in 2022 fall. Previously she was a consultant at BCG in China, the Middle East, and Australia. In the past two years, she worked with several start-ups in China and at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. She likes to read, write, cook, walk in nature, and work on her own project in climate tech.
Cohort Three
Kenneth Wong 黄国轩
Kenneth obtained his bachelor’s degree at Purdue and is currently a graduate student at Tsinghua University & Columbia University (dual degree master's program in Business Analytics). He initiated a private equity fund as a managing partner specializing in ESG. He also owns a company focusing on automobile digitalization. Going forward, Kenneth plans to focus on international perspectives and digital twin technology in ESG.