Ding Ding Zheng has spent her career focusing on educational equity, student success, effective communication, and grant management. She is the new program manager for the Capstone Project Program in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering (SBHSE) in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. In this role, she will bring together students (undergraduate and Masters), clinicians, faculty, and industry to create new solutions to real-world problems.
Ding Ding previously managed the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) project, Citizen-Centered Smart Cities and Smart Living, which trained and prepared master’s and PhD students from diverse backgrounds (particularly female students, underrepresented STEM minority students, and individuals with disabilities) for the STEM workforce. From 2013-2019, she served as the coordinator for the TRIO Student Support Services grant program at ASU Polytechnic, and supported first-generation college students, low-income students, and students with disabilities. Before that, she worked as an academic advisor in the ASU College of Technology and Innovation (which has since merged with Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering) helping students succeed and graduate.
From 2014 to 2017, Ding Ding led as the Public Relations Chair for the Arizona Chapter of WESTOP. In this role, she researched and collected annual performance report data from each of the TRIO projects within the state of Arizona. This data, together with information from various state and federal reports, then had to be analyzed and compiled into an annual, informational Fact Book and Fact Sheet. These two documents were, in turn, used each year by representatives of the AZ TRIO projects when they traveled to Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress for continued support of and funding for TRIO programs nationwide.
Ding Ding is a “triple devil,” having received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in English Literature and Japanese Language, as well as her Master of Arts degree in English (Comparative Literature), from Arizona State University. Between her undergraduate degrees and graduate degree, Ding Ding also worked for a year abroad in Japan teaching English.