Xingjian Liu, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, has received the 2014 Emerging Scholar Award from the Regional Development and Planning Specialty Group (RDPSG) of the Association of American Geographers.
The RDPSG Honors Committee selected Liu for the honor based upon his prolific and high quality research record. The RDPSG Emerging Scholar Award is presented to early- to mid-career scholars who show potential for distinguished scholarship in development, planning and/or policy issues though applied or theoretical research in these areas and/or who have impacted the field through mentorship/teaching.
A research fellow within the Globalization and World Cities research network, Liu helps run the Beijing City Lab, a virtual research network dedicated to studying China’s capital.
Liu earned his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Cambridge in 2013. He received a master's degree in geography from Texas State University-San Marcos. Liu's research and teaching interests include globalization and world cities, urbanization in China, network and spatial economics, urban economics and regional development and visual analytics.