Two Stanford students and a recent alum are among the talented scholars selected for the 2023 Schwarzman Scholars program, which provides a one-year, fully funded master’s degree in global affairs with a focus on leadership at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

The Stanford students joining the program this year are senior Ana Chen and doctoral student Yuyang Wang. Camila Katz, a member of the Stanford Class of 2021, is also among this year’s Schwarzman Scholars. All three will join the eighth cohort of the program, which includes 151 candidates selected from 36 countries and 121 universities around the world.

The program offers a unique combination of coursework, cultural immersion, and personal and professional development opportunities. In addition to their academic studies, scholars will receive career development resources and gain exposure to China through mentors, internships, and lectures by high-profile speakers.

Each year, up to 200 candidates are selected based on their leadership qualities and their potential to understand and bridge cultural and political differences. They join a global network of young leaders working to confront pressing challenges facing the world.

Ana Chen (Image credit: Courtesy Vanessa Chen)

Ana Chen is a senior from Seattle, Washington. She is majoring in international relations and is pursuing two honors theses in diaspora Chinese politics (with the Program in International Relations) and contemporary Chinese memory (with the Interdisciplinary Program in the Arts).

At Stanford, much of her work seeks to deconstruct western geopolitical frameworks through art practice. She hopes to continue this work at Tsinghua University and aspires to a career in academia and creative writing.

“I aim to bring the geopolitical to the level of the personal through art, and it’s my honor to continue my work at a school that has trained many of my academic and artistic inspirations,” she said. “In Beijing, I plan to study the projection of national identities through cultural industries.”

During the 2021-2022 academic year, Chen served as president of the Forum for American-Chinese Exchanges at Stanford (FACES) and was a 2021 Chappell Lougee Scholar. She has cited both experiences as deeply formative to her passion for and approaches to U.S.-China relations. Prior to her senior year, she conducted research with the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) within the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Chen is also a classically trained ballerina, who has performed principal roles with Cardinal Ballet Company, including as Clara in their upcoming performance of The Nutcracker.

Yuyang Wang (Image credit: Courtesy Yuyang Wang)

Yuyang Wang of Beijing, China, is currently pursuing a PhD in archeology. His research focuses on archaeology of Neolithic China, with interests in craft production, technological developments, burial customs, and petrographic analysis. His research and excavations have taken him to Germany; Philadelphia; Shandong, Gansu, China; and Northern Israel.

He also completed a fellowship at the United Nations’ World Food Programme in Rome, during which he worked on a journalism project called “Storytellers” with refugees from Jordan, Chad, and Guatemala. As the founder and group leader of the Public Archaeology Project at the Archaeological Science Lab, Yuyang is committed to building a platform where both archaeologists and the public can reflect upon social realities through archaeological discoveries.

He said that joining the Schwarzman Scholars program will equip him with knowledge about the evolving dynamics between China and the rest of the world, as well as enable him to develop innovative leadership skills to engage the public in archaeology as it relates to current social issues.

“Through the Schwarzman Scholars program, I hope to expand my vision to other social issues that can be addressed through archaeology and be inspired by like-minded people outside of the field of archaeology,” he said.