, assistant professor of sociology in the , has been named the Yang Ni and Xiaoqing Li Scholar in U.S.-China/Asia Relations for the 2025-26 academic year.
Haowei Wang
Wang’s one-year appointment began on July 1. She is the fifth Maxwell faculty member to be named a recipient of the Yang Ni and Xiaoqing Li Endowment Fund for U.S.-China/Asia Relations. Ni L’95 and Li G’96 established the fund in 2021 to encourage greater connections between Maxwell faculty and scholars in China and Asia. The funding may be utilized for travel, research and teaching in China.
Wang’s research focuses on understanding the social determinants of healthy aging in a global context. In particular, she investigates the transformation of family networks, how multiple dimensions of family relationships impact well-being and caregiving in later life, and how demographic shifts and social policies shape physical and mental health across the life course.
Carol Faulkner, senior associate dean for academic affairs, says Wang’s research sheds new light on family systems and aging in a global context. “Professor Wang’s important scholarship enhances Maxwell’s strategic emphasis on research in health and aging. This title is well-deserved given her focus on aging and family systems in China,” she says.
Wang was recently named a 2025-26 Association of Population Centers Fellow. In 2024, she presented her research, “The Experience of Child Bereavement Across the Life Course and Implications for Older Parents’ Psychological Well-being in China,” at the Population Association of America Annual Meeting.
At Maxwell, Wang is a research affiliate at the , a faculty associate at the and a research affiliate at the . Her areas of expertise are in social gerontology, family demography, aging and population health. She has contributed to many articles in interdisciplinary journals on topics including population aging, health disparities, family structure changes, intergenerational relationships, and COVID-19 experiences among middle-aged and older adults.
Ni and Li earned degrees from the and the , respectively.
Story by Mikayla Melo
