Golden grasslands with dotted acacia trees and rolling hills - beautiful landscape of Maasai Mara, Kenya (July 2023)

A native of Shanghai in China, Dr. Peilei Fan received her BS in Computer Science and MS in Geography (Nanjing University), Master in City and Regional Planning (Rutgers University), and MS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and Ph.D. in Economic development (MIT).  Her postdoc training was in the fields of innovation and urban development (United Nations University in Japan with Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tsukuba University).  

Short Bio: Dr. Peilei Fan is a professor and the chair of the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. She joined Tufts University as a tenured professor in September 2023 from Michigan State University (MSU), where she was a professor of urban and regional planning.   Dr. Fan is enlisted as one of the world's top 2% Scientists for both career impact and impact in Year 2023 (the most updated year) by Stanford University and Elsevier.  She studies urban environment and sustainability, innovation and economic development, public health, and policies. She has been awarded millions of dollars in federal research grants (>$5.3 million as a PI, > $7.8 million as PI/Co-PI).  Dr. Fan has taught numerous courses for the past 18 years, including planning and development, urban sustainability and climate change, land use planning, economics for planners, and research methods. She has an established track record of guiding her students to achieve success, winning a variety of national/international awards.  Dr. Fan has taken on major leadership roles in academic organizations and performed important services to support her academic community. She is the President of the International Association of Landscape Ecology, an organization with more than 1,200 members worldwide. She was a Co-Editor-in-Chief of Landscape and Urban Planning, one of the highest rated journals in the field.  She has published 2 books and >80 peer-reviewed articles and been guest (co)editor for special issues of 6 academic journals, including as a lead author in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Environmental Research Letter, Landscape and Urban Planning, Environmental Research, and Landscape Ecology, and a co-author of Nature Communications. 

Consultancy

Asian Development Bank (ADB) 

• Commissioned Research Paper “Innovation in China and India” for Project “The role of innovation in escaping the middle income trap”, 2015-16

• Economist for ADB Project “The Urbanization-Poverty-Inequality Triangle in Asia and the Pacific”, 2014-15

• Economist for ADB Project “Urbanization in Asia”, 2012

United Nations University – World Institute of Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) 

• Consultant for UNU-WIDER Project “Southern Engines of Global Growth: China, India, Brazil, and South Africa”, 2008

Research Areas

Interests: urban environment and sustainability, innovation and economic development, public health, and policy

Recent and On-going Projects: 

• (1) Environmental Justice & Public Health: Climate, Land, & (Health) Outcome of Dengue Fever (CLOUD). (Geographic scope: Peru and South America) (2024-27) (terminated in Mar. 2025)

• (2) Decoding Land Transitions across the Urban-Rural Continuums (URC): A Synthesis Study of Patterns, Drivers, and Socio-environmental Impacts in Southeast Asia (SEALS) (2024-27) Included countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. (on-going)

• (3) Divergent Local Responses to Globalization: Urbanization, Land Transition, and Environmental Changes in Southeast Asia (SEAGUL). (Bench mark cities: Shanghai, Taipei,  Tokyo). (2020-25) (finished)

• (4) China and Global Innovation System (with Prof. Denis Simon from Duke University) (finishing)

• (5) COVID-19, Economic Vitality, and Environmental Impact: Global Synthesis & Urban Perspective (finished)

• (6) Human health and causes across the physical-social landscapes in Michigan cities (finishing)

• (7) Urbanization, economic development, environmental change, and social conditions: A global assessment and regional perspective 

• (8) Integration of online market place and main street in Michigan communities: Drivers, impacts, and policy implications (finished)

• (9) Urbanization and sustainability in SENA (Southeast, East, &North Asia) included countries: China, Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and North Asia of Russia (finished)

• (10) Urbanization and environmental change under institutional change, globalization, and historical/cultural influences: Comparative analysis of Taipei and Shanghai (finished)

• (11) Innovation & economic development in China, India and East Asia  (finished)

Recent Awards & Recognition

• World's Top 2% Scientists for both career impact (1960-2024) and impact in Year of 2022 &2023 by John P.A.Ioannidis at Stanford University and Elsevier, (2023 as the most updated year, published on Sep. 16, 2024)

• Co-Editor-in-Chief, Landscape and Urban Planning (2024 -2025)

• MSU William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty (2022-23)

• Public Intellectuals Program (PIP) Fellow, National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR). 2019-2020.

• Cross-disciplinary Faculty Research Award, College of Social Science, Michigan State University. 2018-19.

• Core Fulbright US Scholar of Cross-Strait Studies Program, Council for International Exchange of Scholar (CIES), US Department of States, 2017-2018. Fulbright Research Project: Urbanization and environmental change under institutional change, globalization, and historical/cultural influences: Comparative analysis of Taipei and Shanghai.

Google Scholar Profile and Citation

CV available upon request.