Personal website: https://yiwenwu.netlify.app/
Address: Wescoe Hall 4060, 1445 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS 66045
Expected 2025 University of Kansas
Ph.D., Public Affairs and Administration
Specialization: Environmental Planning and Hazard Risk Reduction
Dissertation: Planning Consultants and Hazards Risk Reduction: Examining Planning Consultants’ Role in Promoting Effective and Equitable Local Hazard Mitigation Planning
Committee: Ward Lyles (Chair), Bonnie Johnson, Rosemary O’Leary, Dorothy Daley, Elaina Sutley
2020 University of Kansas
M.U.P., Urban Planning
Thesis: Who Is Empathetic to the Disaster You are Going Through? Mining Emotions (Empathy) in Government and Nonprofit Responders’ Tweets
2017 University of Wisconsin – Platteville
B.S., Mathematics
Refereed Journal Articles
2024 Wu, Yiwen, Ward Lyles, Kelly Overstreet, and Elaina Sutley. "Planning for Adaptation? Examining the Planning Integration for Hazard Risk Reduction." Sustainability 16, no. 10: 3999.
2023 Lyles, Ward, Yiwen Wu, Kelly Overstreet, and Elaina Sutley. "Is Time on Our Side? A Longitudinal Analysis of the Quality of Mandated Plans." Journal of Planning Education and Research: 0(0).
2021 Lyles, Ward, Kelly Overstreet, Yiwen Wu, and Jasmin Moore. "Caring as Class: Resolving the Emotional Paradox of Climate Change Education.” Journal of Sustainability Education.
Research Paper
Wu, Yiwen, Ward Lyles, and Hong Vu. “Time for AI’s Turn? Human and Machine-Assisted Plan Quality Evaluation.” [Complete draft 2024]
Wu, Yiwen, and Ward Lyles. “Professional Planners and Public Planners: Assessing the plan quality of hazard mitigation plans developed by various planners.” [Complete draft 2024]
Wu, Yiwen. “Who does it better? The consulting planner’s role in securing funding for local hazard risk reduction.” [Planned spring 2025]
Wu, Yiwen, Bonnie Johnson. “Contracted Planning and Equity: Exploring the definition of social equity in hazard mitigation planning.” [Planned spring 2025]
Wu, Yiwen and Orly Linovski. “Public-private Dichotomy: A Literature Review of Consultants’ Role in Contemporary Planning.” [planned summer 2025]
Research Report
* Overstreet, Kelly, Yiwen Wu, and Ward Lyles. 2021. “Local Recovery Planning Evaluation – A Case Study on 10 Counties in the Southeastern Region in the US.” University of Kansas, Center for Compassionate and Sustainable Communities.*
* Wu, Yiwen, Kelly Overstreet. and Ward Lyles. (2020). “Evaluation of Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Quality – 2020 Updates.* University of Kansas, Center for Compassionate and Sustainable Communities.
* Research reports available on the Center for Compassionate and Sustainable Communities website or by email request.
University of Kansas
2023 Graduate Research Assistant. PI: Dr. Joel Mendez
2019-2022 Graduate Research Assistant/ Grant Project Manager. PI: Dr. Ward Lyles. National Science Foundation funded project: Assessing the Influence of Hazard Mitigation Planning on Disaster Recovery.
University of Kansas
Spring 2024 Instructor
PUAD (Public Administration) 332: Quantitative Methods
Fall 2023 Graduate Teaching Assistant
UBPL (Urban Planning) 410/710: Housing Policy and Planning
Fall 2019 Graduate Teaching Assistant
PUAD (Public Administration) 836: Data Informed Decision-Making
University of Wisconsin – Platteville
Spring 2022 Guest Lecturer
WOMGENDR 2330 (Women’s and Gender Studies): Space, Place, and Gender
* Teaching evaluation available upon request
2024 Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year
School of Public Affairs & Administration, University of Kansas
2024 Student Conference Travel Grant, Social Equity Leadership Conference
National Academy of Public Administration
2024 Chester Newland Memorial Scholarship
School of Public Affairs & Administration, University of Kansas
2024 One University Open Access Author Fund Award
A.R. Dykes Library, University of Kansas
2023 Doctoral Research Fellow
Institute for Policy & Social Research, University of Kansas
2023 Thomas Page & Barbara Kester Scholarship
School of Public Affairs & Administration, University of Kansas
2023 Graduate Student Research Travel Award
College of Liberal Arts & Science, University of Kansas
2022 Graduate Student Professional Development Travel Award
School of Public Affairs & Administration, University of Kansas
2020 Summer Intensive Fellow. “Courageous Leaders for Collective Liberation.” Courage of Care Coalition
2019 Graduate Student Research Travel Award
College of Liberal Arts & Science, University of Kansas
* Honors, Awards and Fellowships in China available upon request.
2024 Wu, Yiwen and Ward Lyles. Does Out sourced Planning Improve Planning Outcome? A Quantitative Analysis on Mitigation Plan Quality. Natural Hazards Workshop. Broomfield, CO. July 14 – 18.
2024 Wu, Yiwen and Bonnie Johnson. “Outsourced Environmental Planning for Equity? A Qualitative Inquiry through the Lens of Hazard Mitigation Planning.” Social Equity Leadership Conference. Stamford, CT. June 19 – 21
2024 Wu, Yiwen, Hong Vu., Huong Ha, and Giang Do. Quantifying Compassion: A Data-Driven Analysis of NGO Communication on Climate Change. West Coast Nonprofit Data Conference. Pheonix, AZ. April 19-20.
2023 Wu, Yiwen, Ward Lyles, Kelly Overstreet, and Elaina Sutley. Upsides to Outsourcing? Public and Private Planning for Hazard Risk Reduction. Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. Chicago, IL. October 19-21.
2023 Pei, Jun, Hong Vu, and Yiwen Wu. “Hoax, Fraud, Scam, or Lie: A Corpus Analysis of Strategies Used by Fox News to Dismiss Climate Change in the Last Two Decades.” 73rd Annual International Communication Association Conference. May 25-29.
2023 Wu, Yiwen. “Limited Planning Capacity: An Analysis of Administrative Burden of Small and Rural Communities in Getting Federal Funds for Disaster Relief.” (Poster accpeted, conference postponed). 18th Annual KU Professionals for Inclusion and Social Justice Conference. University of Kansas.
2022 Wu, Yiwen, Patrick Sullivan, Elaina Sutley, and Ward Lyles. “Supporting Socially Vulnerable Communities by Optimizing Mitigation Project Selection.” Natural Hazards Workshop. Researchers Meeting.
2022 Sullivan, Patrick, Elaina Sutley, Yiwen Wu, and Ward Lyles. “Who Gets Federal Financial Resources to Mitigate and Recover from Disasters?” Natural Hazards Workshop. Researchers Meeting.
2022 Wu, Yiwen, Ward Lyles, Kelly Overstreet, and Elaina Sutley. “Planning for Adaptation? Examining the Integration of Hazard Mitigation and Recovery Planning.” Natural Hazards Workshop. Researchers Meeting.
2021 Lyles, Ward, Yiwen Wu, Kelly Overstreet, and Elaina Sutley. “Better the Second Time Around? A Longitudinal Analysis of the Quality of Mandated Plans.” Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. Virtual Conference.
2021 Wu, Yiwen, Ward Lyles, Kelly Overstreet, and Elaina Sutley. “Planning in the Phase Fog: Integrating Mitigation and Recovery Planning in the Midst of Repetitive Disaster Events”. Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning 61st Annual Conference. Virtual Conference.
2021 Ryan, Emily, Celka Straughn, and Yiwen Wu. “Spotlight on Care.” Association of Academic Museums and Galleries Annual Conference (Roundtable), Virtual.
2019 Seo, Hyunjin, Yiwen Wu, Mike Krings, Jen Humphrey, Anne Tangeman, and Rene Martin. Best Practices for Twitter. (Panelist). A training session for Tweeting Scholars. The Commons, University of Kansas.
2019 Wu, Yiwen. Empathy and Internet. Spotlight on Care Series. (Invited Talk). The Commons, University of Kansas.
2019 Wu, Yiwen. “Who is Empathetic About the Disaster You Are Going Through? An Analysis in Tweets.” The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning 59th Annual Conference (Poster), Greenville, SC.
Reviewer
Journal of Planning Education and Research
Journal of Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change
Academic Service
2024 Natural Hazards Workshop moderator, session “Cross-Generational Perspectives.”
2024 Natural Hazards Workshop volunteer, session
2024 Application Reviewer, Institute for Policy & Social Research Doctoral Research Fellow Program
Professional Service
2021 Technical Support and Volunteering, Data Carpentry, KU Library
2020 Co-lead, Graduate Student Collective
Center for Compassionate and Sustainable Communities, KU
2020 Co-lead, Spotlight on Care Series Program
Center for Compassionate and Sustainable Communities, The Commons, KU
2019 Treasure, Kansas Association of Planning Students, KU
2019 President, KU Badminton Club
2018 Graduate Assistant, International Short Programs, KU International Affairs
2017 International Student Advisory Board, University of Wisconsin – Platteville
Professional Membership
Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning
Natural Hazards Center
American Planning Association
National Academy of Public Administration
Courage of Care Coalition
Software
R, Python, GitHub, ArcGIS, Stata, Minitab, LaTeX.
Language
Chinese (Native Speaker), English (Proficient).