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Teaching and Research Interests

  • Migration and mobility
  • Race/ethnicity, immigration and labor market
  • Ethnic entrepreneurship and community/regional development
  • Global migration of labor and China

Education

  • Ph.D. (2005) Geography, University of Georgia
  • M.S. (1997) Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, China
  • B.S. (1994) Public Finance, Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, China

Profile

My primary research has focused on the racial and ethnic division of labor in US cities. Funded by the NSF, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other agencies, my work specifically examines how “Place,” as both work site and residential location, interacts with race, ethnicity, immigration status, and gender, in shaping labor market experiences and the socioeconomic upward mobility of racial/ethnic minorities and women. One of my current projects also examines the role of higher education in shaping labor market outcomes for women in high-tech and STEM industries. Examples of my work in this area include:

  • Wang, Q. and Lysenko, T. 2013. Underemployment of Immigrants in the United States: From a Spatial Perspective. Urban Studies. Published online doi: 10.1177/0042098013506043.
  • Wang, Q. 2010. How Does Geography Matter in the Ethnic Labor Market Segmentation Process? A Case Study of Chinese Immigrants in the San Francisco CMSA. The Annals of Association of American Geographers 100 (1): 182 – 201.
  • Wang, Q. 2008. Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Job Earnings across Metropolitan Areas in the United States: A Multilevel Analysis. Urban Studies 45(4): 825-843.

I am particularly intrigued by the hierarchical nature of labor market processes examined through the lens of ethnic entrepreneurship. Funded by the NSF and the Kauffman Foundation, I am currently conducting a dynamic, comparative, and multilevel research project on ethnic and female entrepreneurship across immigration gateways in the U.S. In addition to the systematic analyses of workforce and ethnic businesses at the regional and national level, I have been working with local governments, and organizations, to examine how local communities have been shaping and being reshaped by entrepreneurship activities. Examples of my work in this area include:

  • Wang, Q. 2014. Foreign-Born Status, Gender, and Hispanic Self-Employment across U.S. Metropolitan Labor Markets: A Multilevel Approach. In press, Economic Development Quarterly.
  • Wang, Q. Gleave, S. and Lysenko, T. 2014. Ethnic Concentration and Entrepreneurship: The Case of African Americans in Three U.S. Metropolitan Areas. In press, Urban Geography.
  • Wang, Q. 2013. Beyond Ethnic Enclaves? Exploring the Spatial Distribution of Latino-Owned Employer Firms in Two U.S. Immigration Gateways. Journal of Urban Affairs 35(5): 569-58.
  • Wang, Q. 2009. Gender, Ethnicity and Self-Employment: A Multilevel Analysis across U.S. Metropolitan Areas. Environment and Planning A 41(8): 1979-1996.

Under the context of knowledge-based new economy and the war for “global talents,” I have been developing a research agenda in transnational migration of the highly-skilled labor force, with a focus on returnees to China and their transnational experiences in shaping global cities on both sides of Pacific Rim. With a transnational research team, I hope to employ multiple research methods to triangulate the analyses of transnational migration across the individual, institutional, regional, national and global scales. While multiple projects are in preparation, the following articles provide examples of my work in this area:

  • Wang, Q. Tang, L. and Li, H. 2014. Return Migration of the Highly-Skilled in Higher Education Institutions: A Chinese University Case. In press, Population, Space, and Place.