Bio

Yu Zhou is professor in Department of Earth Science and Geography, Vassar College.  She grew up in Beijing China, and received her bachelor and master’s degree from the Department of Geography (later renamed as Department of Urban and Environmental Sciences) at Peking University in 1986 and 1989, respectively.  She came to the United States in 1989 for the Ph.D. program in Geography at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and received her doctor degree in 1995. She has been teaching at Vassar College since then and served as the director of Asian Studies at Vassar College during 2002-2006.  She has done extensive research in the areas of ethnic business, gender and ethnic communities, and transnational business networks in the United States.  Since 2000, her study mainly focuses on globalization and high-tech industry in China, especially Beijing’s Zhongguancun region. She is a recipient of several major national and international grants including grant from National Science Foundation.  She is also one of the Public Intellectual Fellows for 2008-2010, selected by National Committee of United States-China Relations.  Her book: The inside story of China’s high-tech industry: making Silicon Valley in Beijing is published by Rowman and Littlefield Publisher in 2008. Yu Zhou lives in Poughkeepsie, New York with her husband and two children.