Lilli Ambort, a global studies major from Davenport, Iowa, will begin graduate studies at Peking University in the fall as a Yenching Scholar. A December 2020 Honors graduate, Ambort began studying Chinese in high school and completed a minor in the language at the University of Minnesota. As a Yenching Scholar she will join a cohort of 90 students from 37 countries and 27 Chinese students to complete a Master’s Degree in China Studies with a concentration in Law and Society.
As a student in the University Honors Program, Ambort wrote her Honors thesis on the subject of climate change as a factor driving the migration of rural people to urban centers in China’s Loess Plateau. As a Yenching Scholar, she hopes to travel to this region and interview people to understand both their motivations and Chinese policy with respect to this expanding global issue of environmental displacement. After completing her studies, she hopes to continue working in Asia on matters of sustainability and environmental policy.
