PhD Candidate Liwei Zhang Awarded New Writer Fellowship from the Family Process Institute

Liwei Zhang
Liwei Zhang

NYU Silver PhD Candidate Liwei Zhang has been named a 2018 New Writers Fellow by the Family Process Institute, an independent, multidisciplinary, transnational organization dedicated to developing and exchanging new theory, research, applied practice, and policy related to families and other systems. Each year, the fellowship is awarded to ten new scholars from diverse disciplines to support their development in advancing systemic theory, research, and practice grounded in a commitment to social justice.

According to Professor Wen-Jui Han, Director of NYU Silver’s PhD Program, “This fellowship is a recognition of both the contributions Liwei has made to our understanding of how structural factors may shape families’ and children’s well-being thus far in her doctoral studies as well as of her tremendous potential for future impact in the field.”

Liwei’s research focuses on social welfare policy with an emphasis on the role of multi-dimensional poverty in shaping children's health and well-being, particularly for children in immigrant families. Liwei said that the ultimate goal of her research is to inform policy makers and clinical professionals in providing culturally competent policies and programs to eliminate socioemotional disparities attributed to poverty and immigration. To facilitate her academic inquiries, Liwei has equipped herself with advanced quantitative skills such as longitudinal modeling, structural equation modeling, and causal inferences. Her research has been published in Asian American Journal of Psychology and International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Liwei expressed gratitude to Dr. Han for fostering her research and supporting her pursuit of the New Writers fellowship. She said “During my doctoral studies at NYU Silver, I have amassed extensive experience working on longitudinal-designed projects that serve to identify how economic experiences and other familial and sociocultural factors interact in a dynamic way to shape children’s health and well-being. As a result of this fellowship, I have further developed my scholarly writing skills so that I may more effectively communicate my research findings and influence programs and policies for economically disadvantaged families and children.”