2010-2011 USCI Faculty Research Grants

Faculty Research Project Abstracts

Iris Chi (School of Social Work)
“Intergenerational Relationships between Chinese Immigrant Families in Los Angeles and Elder Relatives in China”
洛杉矶中国移民家庭与其在华长辈亲人的代际关系

Many young Chinese chose to migrate to United States in recent years and left their elderly parents in China. Both generations are facing dilemmas on issues like family reunion and parental care. This project examines the intergenerational relationship of Chinese families with the middle generation migrating and living in Los Angeles while their elderly parents stay in either Beijing or Shanghai. The study will adopt a mixed method which collects quantitative and qualitative data. The study will explore the "dilemmas" of two generations focusing on intergenerational support and explore the factors which impact the intergenerational relationship.

Hilda Blanco (Center for Sustainable Cities) and Josh Newell (School of Policy, Planning, and Development
“Comparative Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Beijing and Los Angeles”
北京与洛杉矶温室气体排放量表之比较研究

Cities emit a major portion of greenhouse gases (GHGs), the primary contributors to climate change. The first step to reduce emissions is to inventory them by modeling material and energy flows through the urban system. GHG inventory methods have been developed for urban areas, but they these methodologies differ significantly depending on their assumptions about scale and scope. Through a research collaboration between researchers at USC and Tsinghua University, we propose to: 1) evaluate existing GHG inventory methods for urban areas and then 2) develop a multi-year major proposal for conducting a GHG inventory for the mega-regions of Beijing and Los Angeles.

Shui-Yan Tang (School of Policy, Planning, and Development)
“Political Opportunities, Resource Constraints, and Policy Advocacy of Environmental NGOs in China”

Drawing on political opportunity and resource dependency theories, this paper traces the development of 28 environmental NGOs (eNGOs) in China and examines the political and institutional factors that have constrained or facilitated these organizations‘ policy advocacy activities. The paper shows that political structural changes have created greater opportunities for eNGOs‘ policy advocacy, and eNGOs with better financial resources and connections to the party-state system are more capable of utilizing these opportunities to enhance their policy advocacy capacity. Yet party-state connections may in turn constrain the types of policy advocacy pursued by these eNGOs. Click here to view the report.