Ying Hua, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis in the College of Human Ecology, has been named director of the Cornell China Center, effective April 1.

She will work with the Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs (OVPIA) to further craft and execute the university’s China strategy and provide academic and programmatic direction for the new Cornell China Center in Beijing.

“We’re so pleased to have Ying Hua come on board. As director of the Cornell China Center, Ying will serve as a crucial bridge between Cornell’s presence in the United States and China,” said Wendy Wolford, vice provost for international affairs.

Hua will chair the China Center Faculty Steering Committee and work closely with the Cornell China Advisory Board. She also will partner with OVPIA staff and the center’s executive director to coordinate and support college- and unit-level activity in the center, and administer research and other grants for China engagement.

“Ying has extensive experience collaborating with partners across Cornell and in China; she will draw on those experiences to build out a dynamic center that supports students, researchers and alumni,” said Provost Michael Kotlikoff.

Her background in architecture, building science and behavioral science influences Hua’s research, teaching and advising. Her research goal is to inform the design, management and re-engineering of built environments and building-sector policymaking to enhance the quality of built environments, support the health and performance of their occupants, and mitigate the building sector’s impact on global climate change.

As an member of the China Green Building Council, Hua has actively promoted sustainable building policy, practice and education in China.

At Cornell, Hua is a member of the graduate fields of design and environmental analysis and of real estate. She is a faculty fellow of Cornell’s David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and the Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures. She is a core faculty member of the Cornell East Asia Program of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and also serves as co-director of Cornell’s International Workplace Studies Program.

Hua holds a Ph.D. in building performance and diagnostics from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.Eng. in building science and technology and a B.Arch., both from Zhejiang University, China.