Haiyan Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Energy, Resources, and Environment program at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Environmental Science from Nanjing University’s School of the Environment in 2005 and 2008, respectively. From 2007 to 2013, she studied at Rutgers University's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, where she obtained her Ph.D. degree. Between 2013 and 2016, she worked as an assistant researcher at Nanjing University's School of the Environment. Professor Zhang has been a part-time professor at the HNC since 2014, lecturing on China's Development and its Environment as well as Global Environment Fundamentals. She officially joined HNC in the summer of 2016.

Her main research areas include environmental system analysis, the food-environment-health nexus, and regional trade and environmental impact analysis. In recent years, she has led projects such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China's Youth Project on "Air Pollution and Environmental Migration," the National Natural Science Foundation of China's General Project on "Climate Change and Health Co-benefit of the Dynamics of Chinese Diet from Consumption Upgrade Perspectives," and the National Geographic Society's Air and Water Conservation Fund Project on "Designing and Practicing Long-term Mechanisms for Social Management Innovation in Environmental Protection: A Case Study of Suzhou Industrial Park." She has published one monograph in Chinese and over twenty academic papers in various Chinese and international periodicals.