I am an assistant professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My research broadly focuses on the power of marketing to improve financial sustainability in the context of leisure and tourism. my research topics include:

• User fees in parks and protected areas (conservation finance)
• Greenspace ballot measure and voter attitudes/behaviors (conservation finance)
• Rural tourism development (sustainable tourism development)
• Visitor behavior and decision-making

See the publication and research project pages for more updates.

I was born and grew up in Guangzhou, China. I received my BS in Events and Tourism Management from Sun Yat-Sen University in China. I then moved to the U.S. for graduate school where I earned my MS and Ph.D. in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences from Texas A&M University (Gig ’em!).  Before joining UIUC, I worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the U.S.-Asia Center for Tourism & Hospitality Research at Temple University and as a visiting professor in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism at San Francisco State University.

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