Jan. 16, 2018: Yi *09 on Building a Start-Up in China; Wald ’04 on the Iran Protests; and More

Wang Yi *09, creator of the English-teaching app Liulishuo, left his job as a product manager in Silicon Valley to return home to China, a move that follows a recent trend sparked by financial incentives and venture capital. — Bloomberg Businessweek

Arabia Foundation scholar Ellen Wald ’04 notes that unlike the protests of the 1970s, today’s demonstrations are “driven not by ideology but by opposition to the regime alone.” — The Washington Post

Michael Dodman *99, the U.S. ambassador to Mauritania, reflects on his overseas experiences, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the modernization of post-Soviet Poland. — The Buffalo News

Michael Doran *90 *97, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, writes that instead of ending the Iran nuclear deal, President Donald Trump should eliminate the deal’s nuclear sunset clauses, making restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program permanent. — The Wall Street Journal

Lawyer Oral Miller ’55, who is blind, has been an advocate for the visually impaired throughout his career. — The (Ashland, Ky.) Daily Independent

State Department diplomat Janice Weiner ’80 and current Woodrow Wilson School MPA student Zach Wahls are both running for the Democrat Party nomination for state senator in Iowa’s 37th district. — Muscatine Journal

Under President Mitch Daniels ’71’s leadership, Purdue University has been able to freeze tuition for five years and slash its operating budget by $8 million, leading to record undergraduate enrollment. — Bloomberg

Former President Barack Obama chose Mohsin Hamid ’93’s Exit West and Princeton Professor Michael Desmond’s Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City for his list of favorite books of 2017. — CNN

Health economist and Utah State Rep. Norm Thurston *95 has introduced “right to shop” legislation, which will enable people to shop online for the best medical service at the best price, in an attempt to reduce health-care costs. — Deseret News

“[T]he media industry has more than tolerated bullies and mean boys. We have celebrated them. We have promoted them.” 

— Veteran journalist Kathy Kiely ’77 in an op-ed about how the news media has enabled sexual harassment. Read more in USA Today

Nick Spicher ’01 became a social-media sensation after using the word “gangster’s” instead of “gangsta’s” when naming the title of a Coolio song on Jeopardy; it cost him $2,300 in the game. — The Herald (Everett, Wash.)

Author Jennifer Weiner ’91 writes that President Trump’s derogatory idioms about dogs miss the mark. — The New York Times

Toronto Blue Jays CEO Mark Shapiro ’89 says his experience at Princeton demonstrated “the incredible power that comes from assembling a really talented, really smart group of people in one place and then having them feed off each other.” — Financial Post

John Hellmann ’92, the president and CEO of railroad company Genesee & Wyoming, was the 55th recipient of Railway Age’s Railroader of the Year Award. — Railway Age

Known as “Jonny King” in the jazz world, Jonathan King ’87, the chairman of New York City law firm Cowen Liebowitz & Latman, has a side career as an accomplished jazz pianist and has recorded numerous albums. — Law.com

Brown University mathematician Richard Schwartz *91 discusses his love of simple problems with a “hidden depth.” — Quanta Magazine

Jeff Konya ’95 was named the director of athletics at Northeastern University. — Boston Globe

Former Foreign Service official Jeff Rathke *04 argues that NATO forces in Europe are unable to achieve quick mobilization due to diminished investment in infrastructure. — The Wall Street Journal

The Grolier Club in New York is hosting an exhibition of 70 works of science fiction from the collection of author and antiquarian bookseller Henry Wessells ’83. — Fine Books and Collections