Yandong Li (he/him)

My research asks how the processes of design, digitization, and standardization have transformed the environment. To respond, I engage with literature in media theory, science and technology studies, and environmental humanities. My approach is mostly archival, though I have a particular interest in ethnographic research, where I observe the interplay between people and technology. As a teacher, I encourage my students to be observant too and not take their surroundings for granted.

My work has received the Bruns Graduate Essay Prize from Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA) and the Intersecting Energy Cultures Award from the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities. It has been supported by numerous fellowships, including a Visiting Graduate Scholar Fellowship in the History of Science and Technology at Johns Hopkins University; a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Max Planck Institute–Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz; the Presidential Dissertation Fellowship; a two-time Society of Scholars Fellowship (2024 and 2026); the China Studies Dissertation Fellowship; the Linda Hall Library (in Science, Engineering, and Technology) Fellowship; the Greenhouse Green Transitions Fellowship at the University of Stavanger, Norway; and years ago, a Dean’s Scholarship from Parsons School of Design, among others. 

I co-edited (with Weixian Pan) the special issue “Energy and Media” for the Journal of Chinese Cinemas. My writings have appeared in Modernism/modernity Print Plus, Journal of Environmental Media, NiCHE, and The Lab Book (entry for the "Cultural Techniques" chapter), among others.