Cheng Hong joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) during the 2016–17 academic year from the Institute of Quality Development Strategy at Wuhan University, where he serves as a Professor of Economics and Dean of the Institute.

His research interests encompass China’s economic transition, quality of economic development, product quality governance and regulation, and entrepreneurship and innovation. During his time at Shorenstein APARC, he will participate in a research on the phenomenon of ‘zombie firms’ emerging in China.

Cheng is Director of Management Committee of China Employer-Employee Survey (CEES). He is also the Founding Editor of Journal of Macro-Quality Research since 2013. He received the First China Quality Award Nomination from the Chinese government in 2013.

He received a Ph.D. in economics from Wuhan University in 1999.

Mariko Yang-Yoshihara is an Instructor and an Educational Researcher at SPICE interested in driving social impact through curriculum development and research. Currently, she is focused on understanding how constructivist theory-based design thinking principles can 1) foster a more entrepreneurial mindset for adult learners and 2) promote an interdisciplinary STEAM (STEM + Arts/Humanities) approach to innovation for young and adult learners by developing educational curricula and analyzing their impacts. Her research informs the courses she develops and teaches for students ranging from middle to graduate-level across Japan.

Mariko’s academic research has been presented at national and international conferences, including the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association, the Society of Research into Higher Education, and Japan Society for Research Policy and Innovation Management. Her past research findings have been published in peer-reviewed journals including International Journal of STEM Education, Thinking Skills and Creativity, Classroom Discourse, and Administrative Sciences, as well as in volumes published by the MIT Press, the Tokyo University Press (Japanese), and Hakuto Shobo (Japanese). Additionally, Mariko co-authored a book on STEAM education and design thinking (世界を変えるSTEAM人材―シリコンバレー「デザイン思考」の核心) published by Asahi Shinbun Press in 2019, which has been reprinted and translated into Chinese (title: 硅谷是如何培养创新人才的) by the Zhejiang People’s Publishing House (浙江人民出版社). She also conducts research on administrative career paths within higher education, focusing on the professional identities of those with doctorate degrees working within research management and administration at a global scale. She recently co-edited The Emerald Handbook of Research Administration Around the World that gathered contributions from over 50 countries and regions across Africa, North America, South America, Asia, Australasia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the Middle East (Emerald Publishing, 2023).

In 2016, Mariko co-founded SKY Labo, an educational non-profit based in Japan, with a goal to nurture the next generation of STEAM thinkers. SKY Labo’s inquiry-based program utilizing human-centred pedagogical approaches has garnered official support from the Gender Equality Bureau of Japan’s Cabinet Office in 2019, and was honored with the Semi-Grand Prix of Nissan Foundation’s Rikajyo Ikusei Sho (Award Promoting Next Generation of Women in STEM) in 2022.

Mariko received a Ph.D. and a M.A. in Political Science from Stanford University. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine and a B.A. in Literature from the University of the Sacred Heart in Japan. In addition to her role at SPICE, Mariko is a Visiting Professor at Tohoku University, serving as a faculty member of the School of Engineering and an academic advisor to graduate students in the Department of Management Science and Technology. 

Dr. Ke Wang is visiting APARC for the fall semester in 2016-2017 school year during her sabbatical leave from her current post at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington D.C. where she serves as a Senior Economist in the Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation.

At the Fed, Dr. Wang is responsible for policy analysis and regulation oversight of U.S. bank holding companies as well as conducting academic research in economics and finance fields. In her five-year tenure as a Fed staff economist, she participated in international Basel framework of capital regulation, quantitative credit model assessment for U.S. Stress Testing practice, and policy initiatives on liquidity regulation for Systemically Important Financial Institutions.

Dr. Wang’s research interests span from credit analysis to monetary policy. She has published in top academic journals such as Journal of Financial Economics and has wide citations for her previous works which covered topics such as corporate bond default prediction, impact of banking structure on monetary policy, and relationship banking in pre-war Japan.

Her current working papers focus on how liquidity in Over-The-Counter market is impacted by broker-dealers’ funding costs and information asymmetry. She provides empirical evidence using comprehensive bond transaction data that broker-dealers’ own financial health will quantitatively impact the liquidity and price discovery process of distressed assets. At Stanford, Dr. Wang will collaborate with other APARC research fellows on studies about both U.S. and Japan banking regulations, particularly the impact of regulation on systemic risk of financial institutions. 

Dr. Wang holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University and a B.A. in International Economics from Peking University. She once worked as an Assistant Professor in Finance in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo, teaching graduate courses on Money and Banking as well as Corporate Finance. 

Zhenwen Shao joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center as a Visiting Student Researcher for the 2016-2017 academic year.  He is a Ph.D student in Economics at Jilin University, China, studying the investment market, stock index futures, and the variability of international comparative research.  He co-authored an article titled "The Research on Distinguish Levels and Classifications of Chinese State-Owned Enterprises" in Social Science Front (Jilin Academy of Social Science, 2015).

Zhenwen obtained his masters degree from Jilin University and his bachelor's degree from Jilin University of Finance and Economics.

Anju Patwardhan is a Fulbright Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Stanford. Her research is focused on the use of technology and innovation to support financial inclusion, especially small business lending.

She is also a Venture Partner with CreditEase Fintech Fund from China (fund of c.USD 1 billion). She is a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Future Council on Blockchain and on the WEF steering committees for “Internet for All” and “Disruptive Innovation in Financial Services”. 

She has been appointed as a FinTech Industry Expert with UC Berkeley (SCET) and an Innovation Fellow with the NUS.  She serves on the advisory board of Government of Estonia’s e-residency program

She was in banking until July 2016 and has over 25 years of experience with Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in global leadership roles across Asia, Africa and Middle East.  She was a member of SCB’s global leadership team, global risk management group and global technology & operations management group. She was also a Director on various banking subsidiaries and non-profits boards.

She is an alumnus of the IIT Delhi and IIM Bangalore, and holds further professional qualifications is board directorship and art appreciation.

She moved from Singapore to the Bay Area in August 2016 with her family.