Hanjie W
- Research Program Mentor
PhD at University of Washington
Expertise
International relations, global environmental governance, Chinese politics, Belt and Road Initiative, International political economy, Geopolitics, Industrial Policy, Transportation Policy
Bio
Hanjie's work focuses on environmental politics, international political economy, and Chinese politics. Her recent work and dissertation examine green industrial policy, with a particular interest in electric vehicles in the United States, China, and the developing world. She studies how governments design and implement green industrial policies that shape the global transition to clean energy. Her research combines both qualitative and quantitative methods, from analyzing trade and investment data to conducting interviews and fieldwork. She is committed to conducting policy-oriented research for a better world. Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, camping, classical music, and kayaking, and has recently started learning to sail. She is also an active Master Gardener volunteer.Project ideas
The Politics of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in U.S. Cities
This project would examine how local governments in the United States support the expansion of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. A possible research question could be: why do some localities install charging infrastructure faster than others? Students could develop and test hypotheses related to political, economic, and demographic factors. Methodologically, students could design the project in different ways and practice either quantitative or qualitative approaches. For example, they might collect data to create a simple dataset of chargers per capita across selected cities, analyze city council documents, local government reports, and media coverage to identify key policies, incentives, or barriers to deployment, or conduct interviews and case studies involving community engagement. This type of project gives students hands-on experience in designing research questions and testable hypotheses, and in applying basic methodologies such as data collection, interviews, and policy analysis, while remaining manageable in scope.
Environmental Standards in Chinese-Financed Infrastructure Projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
The Chinese government has made massive investments in financing infrastructure projects overseas, particularly in the developing world and through the Belt and Road Initiative. This project would explore how environmental considerations are addressed and how environmental standards are applied in Chinese-financed infrastructure projects abroad. A student could select a small sample of projects (e.g., one in Southeast Asia, one in Africa, and one in Latin America) using publicly available databases such as AidData, the Boston University Global Development Policy Center Chinese Overseas Development Finance Dataset, or news archives. The analysis could focus on whether Chinese-financed projects align with or differ from other development agencies in referencing international environmental standards, how host-country regulations shaped implementation, and whether any controversies or protests arose. The project would give students practice in cross-case comparison, familiarize them with real-world international political economy cases (i.e., Chinese presence in the developing world) with significant policy implications, and provide experience working with open-source datasets.