Fengxiu Zhang

Fengxiu Zhang is an Assistant Professor in Schar School of Policy and Government and a core faculty member at the Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities (C-RASC) in George Mason University.

Her primary areas of research include climate adaptation, disaster resilience and technology in government. She focuses on integrating institutional, organizational, psychological and network perspectives to advance understanding of climate adaptation in public organizations to inform management and policy for enhanced resilience. She also expands research on risk and resilience to examine how and why individuals and organizations prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. Her recent work on technology centers on open government data, with a particular focus on the users’ perspective and its implications for social equity. Zhang’s research has been published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Global Environmental Change, Public Administration Review, Public Management Review, Public Administration, Journal of Environmental Management, and selected transportation journals.

Zhang has received multiple awards and recognition for her work, including the 2019 Staats Emerging Scholar at Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affair and Administration (NASPAA), 2019 Digital Governance Junior Scholar in Section on Science & Technology in Government (SSTIG) at American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), 2019 Best Student Paper in Section of Transportation Policy and Transportation (STPA) at ASPA, 2019 Dissertation Completion Fellowship in the Graduate College of Arizona State University as well as 2019 Honorable Mention, and the William E. Mosher and Frederick C. Mosher Award for her Public Administration Review article.

She received her PhD in public administration and policy from Arizona State University in 2020.

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Areas of Research

• Climate change adaptation
• Disaster resilience
• Decision Making Under Risk and Uncertainty
• Social vulnerability
• Technology in government
• Civic engagement
• Critical Infrastructure Protection
• Quantitative Methods