Liang Wu, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Scholar of Shipping Decarbonization, Technological Globalization, and Just Future Studies
Liang Wu is a hyperpolyglot, first-generation, and interdisciplinary Post-PhD Researcher on the human dimensions and socio-environmental, international politics and dynamics of emerging technologies of shipping decarbonization and digitalization. He is an Engaged Scholar for sustainable and socially-just future, and a former Science Communication and Marine Policy Specialist at the U.S. federal government.
From 2022 to 2023, Wu worked in the U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Exploration across the Science & Technology and Outreach & Education Divisions. He supported federal efforts of sea expeditions, science communication, grant administration, and multistakeholder engagement to fulfill national and international policy goals. Wu also took the initiative of analyzing the human-technology interfaces of the Office’s operations, as well as the interrelationship between international law and maritime conventions, national and international policies and priorities, and ocean exploration, conservation, and jurisdiction.
Wu began his longitudinal maritime research project in 2006 when he started studying the lived experiences and meanings of contemporary seamanship, and the social infrastructures and social logistics that are integral to the transportation of 90% of global trade, including everyday commodities. His doctoral work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Social Science Research Council (SSRC), Wenner-Gren Foundation, Center for Engaged Scholarship (CES), and Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies among other funding agencies. It covers the technoeconomic, infrastructural, legal, and geographical developments of shipping in the postwar era, particularly containerization and its concomitant changing maritime environments, shipboard communities, and port cities, sociotechnical and sociopolitical conditions and relations generated by the global expedition of material goods and products, and the mechanisms and mediations through which multinational seafarers navigate not only ships and oceans, but also their overseas relationships, job conditions, state administrations, and international regulations.
Wu is actively involved in various advocacy organizations and international working groups for the sustainable and just development of blue economies and communities. Through his publications, presentations, and policy work, Wu reflects on the complex reality of maritime transportation and globalization, supply chain logistics and politics, and techno-capitalism and labor. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 global pandemic and with the accelerating climate change, Wu is currently examining the policy, power, and politics of shipping decarbonization and digitalization under the industrial banner of “the 4th Propulsion Revolution,” providing holistic and in-depth analyses for social, economic, and environmental viability and resiliency at both the policymaking and ground/deck levels.
Social
Contact
lwu2@gradcenter.cuny.edu
Website
www.linkedin.com/in/liangwunyc
Education
- 2024 Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Anthropology
Concentrations: Science, Technology, and Society (STS), Globalization, Political Economy,
Infrastructure, Critical Mobility, Technology and Labor, Maritime Studies - 2019 Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Anthropology
- 2011 Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Anthropology
- 2007 Bachelor of Social Science (BSS) in Anthropology
Publications
Wang, Lu, Caitlin Adams, Allison Fundis, Janet Hsiao, Casey Machado, Mashkoor Malik, Rachel Quadara, Coralie Rodriguez, Adam Soule, Kelley Suhre, Liang Wu, and Aurora Elmore. 2024. “Broadening Inclusivity at Sea.” Frontiers in Marine Science 11.
Wu, Liang. 2024. Containerization of Seafarers in the International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, and Mobility Politics of Global Logistics. Doctoral dissertation. CUNY Academic Works.
Copeland, Adrienne, Liang Wu, and Mashkoor Malik. 2024. FY22 NOAA Ocean Exploration Competitive Grant Program Fiscal Report. NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Hoy, Shannon, Marcel Peliks, Dan Freitas, Trey Gillespie, Charles Wilkins, Paige Hoel, Cassie Ferrante, Liang Wu, Caitlin Ruby, and Katharine Egan. 2022. Mapping Data Acquisition and Processing Summary Report: EX-22-03, Puerto Rico Mapping and Deep-Sea Camera Demonstration (Mapping and Tech Demonstration). NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Wu, Liang. 2022. “Stranded at Sea: International Seafarers Shipping 90% of Global Trade and Lessons from the Supply Chain Crisis.” Knauss Lunch & Learn 2022. NOAA Central Library Seminars.
Wu, Liang. 2022. “From Ethnographer to Explorer: the Thousand-Miles Journey of an International Social Scientist as a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow.” NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Wu, Liang. 2022. “Ocean Co-Exploration Through Advanced Human-Robot Interaction.” NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Wu, Liang. 2022. “Advances in Deep-Sea Sampling with Soft Robotics.” NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Wu, Liang. 2022. “Instrumentation to Assess the Untainted Microbiology of the Deep-Ocean Water Column.” NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Wu, Liang. 2022. “Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Quicksands Archaeological Survey.” NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Wu, Liang. 2022 “Exploring the Blue Economy Biotechnology Potential of Deepwater Habitats.” NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Wu, Liang. 2022 “Machine Learning for Automated Detection of Shipwreck Sites from Large Area Robotic Surveys.” NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Wu, Liang. 2022. “Exploration and Characterization of the Fine-Scale Physical-Biogeochemical Environment Over Deep Coral Reefs on the West Florida Slope Using Integrated Remotely Operated Vehicle-Lander-Sensor Systems.” NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Wu, Liang. 2022. “Combining Habitat Suitability and Physical Oceanography for Targeted Discovery of New Benthic Communities on the West Florida Slope.” NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Levinson, Marc, and Liang Wu. May 3, 2021. “The Containerization of Shipping and its Global Consequences with Marc Levinson and Liang Wu.” The Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies. International Horizons Podcast.
Love, Stephanie, and Liang Wu. 2020. “Are We in the Same Boat? Ethnographic Lessons of Sheltering in Place from International Seafarers and Algerian Harraga in the Age of Global Pandemic.” Anthropology Now 12(1): 55-65.
Wu, Liang. 2011. “Sailing on a Neoliberal Sea: Multinational Seafarers on Container Ships.” Hong Kong Anthropologist 5.
Wu, Liang. 2011. Sailing on a Neoliberal Sea: Multinational Seafarers on Container Ships. M.Phil. thesis, Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Positions
Projects
2024- present The 4th Propulsion Revolution: Politics, Power, and Policy of Shipping Decarbonization and Digitalization
2014-2024 Containerization of Seafarers in the International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, and Mobility Politics of Global Logistics
Grants
2024 Waterfront Alliance Waterfront Scholarship
2024 Wenner-Gren Post-PhD Research Grant
2022-23 John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship
2021-22 Center for Engaged Scholarship Dissertation Fellowship
2021-22 Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies Dissertation Fellowship
2021 Waterfront Alliance Waterfront Scholarship
2021 Graduate Center Early Research Initiative/Digital Initiatives Connect New York Fellowship
2019-20 Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Fellowship
2019-20 Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant
2019-20 National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant
2019 CUNY Graduate Center Doctoral Student Research Grant
2017 CUNY Graduate Center Provost’s Pre-Dissertation Research Fellowship
2014-19 CUNY Graduate Center Five-Year Graduate Center Fellowship
2007-09 Chinese University of Hong Kong Two-Year Postgraduate Studentship
Academic Interests
Anthropology of Decarbonization, Critical Theory, East & Southeast Asian Migrant Workers, Globalization, Human Geography, Infrastructure, Maritime History, Maritime Law (Admiralty and the Law of the Sea), Maritime Policy, Maritime Studies, (Im)Mobility, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Science, Technology, and Society (STS), Seafarers, Shipping, Ships and Ports, Supply Chain Logistics, Politics, and Dynamics, Technocapitalism, Technology and Labor, Urban Studies
